The Pawar dynasty in Maharashtra is all set to stake its claim with the nomination of Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, to the Rajya Sabha. The party is yet to make an official declaration of Sule’s nomination to the seat, which fell vacant after the demise of Pawar loyalist and senior party leader Vasant Chavan in July this year.The election is yet to be declared but party officials admit that Sule’s nomination in the Upper House is almost a certainty, a befitting role for the NCP’s political heiress.Party sources point to the fact that Sule has been nominated to the party’s national committee rather than its state committee. The move to nominate Sule to the Rajya Sabha is seen as a clear pointer to Pawar’s ambitions for his daughter — create a national profile for her before she comes back to the state to play an active political role later. Also, Sule’s shift to Delhi will ensure that there are no two political power centres to rival her cousin Ajit Pawar’s position, for the moment. She needs all the help of her party today, and it does not make sense to jeopardise her entry by dividing party loyalties between the family.It was two months ago when Sule officially joined the party as a primary member, and ever since, party workers have been waiting to hear about the position and role she will be given in the party. In fact, Sule’s entry has sent not-so-happy signals to her cousin, powerful Ajit Pawar, who was earlier being groomed as Pawar’s political heir. So much so, the cousin is now being seen as an almost-ran in the race to inherit Pawar’s mantle.Sule has been working in the state in the fields of education, health and setting up women’s self-help groups in the last five years, ever since she returned to the country. She has actively participated in her father’s borough of western Maharashtra in coordinating and supporting specialists and NGOs in this sector, under the YB Chavan Centre and the Pawar Charitable Trust.Her cousin Ajit, however, has seen his role and duties diminish in the party in the last three years. According to party sources, it is a disappointed Sharad Pawar who has had to face the distressing fact that his nephew has not lived up to his expectations to take up his political inheritance. Sources point to Ajit’s reputation of being arrogant despite his incompetence in running the affairs of the party in the state.They point to the fact that Sharad Pawar has now asked his nephew to withdraw from looking after the administrative and political affairs of his constituency Baramati. “Ajit Pawar has proven he is not a good administrator and Pawar was particularly miffed after he heard Ajit had not treated senior leaders with the respect owed to them,’’ says a party source.Supriya Sule, however, denied knowledge of her possible nomination to the Rajya Sabha. “I have not been told either formally or informally by the party about any move to nominate me to the Rajya Sabha,’’ she said.
