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This is an archive article published on February 18, 2024

Supriya Sule challenges Sunetra Pawar: Ready to debate on any topic, at any place

Supriya Sule's remarks comes in the wake of Ajit Pawar appealing to people of Baramati to vote only for the candidate of his choice.

Supriya Sule, indian expressSupriya Sule (Express Photo)

Lok Sabha MP from Baramati and senior politician Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule on Sunday said she was ready to debate on any topic at any place with Sunetra Pawar, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who is being pitched as a possible candidate for the upcoming general elections from the bastion of the Pawar family.

”I am ready to debate wth their candidate on any topic of their choice, at any place of their choice and at the time they choose,” Sule told the Indian Express.
Sule has virtually thrown the challenge at Sunetra Pawar, who is her sister-in-law. Asked whether her challenge was specifically meant for Sunetra Pawar, Sule said,

”Be it Sunetra Pawar or any other candidate they want to field, I am ready to debate with that person. They can choose the topic they want at the place they want.”

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Sule’s remarks comes in the wake of Ajit Pawar appealing to people of Baramati to vote only for the candidate of his choice. The NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar started a publicity campaign for Sunetra Pawar in Baramati, soon after the Election Commission recognised the group as the ‘real’ NCP and also allotted the party’s ‘clock’ symbol. Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction received a shot in the arm after Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar too recognised his group as the real NCP.

Sule’s challenge, an NCP leader said, is meant to dent the confidence of Sunetra Pawar, who has rarely delivered speeches on public platform or given interviews to the media. ”She is not known for being articulate. And that is why Supriya Sule’s challenge is a bid to expose her weakness,” the leader said.

Parth Pawar, son of Ajit Pawar, refused to respond about the possibility of his mother contesting from Baramati. However, his associates said the party is gearing up to contest from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency.

Sule has been maintaining that she had no problem with whosoever contests against her. “We are living in a democratic set up. On election terrain, everyone can contest,” said the Lok Sabha MP.

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Both Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar are apparently not on talking terms. ”They have not been seen together for quite a while,” said an NCP leader.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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