Pawar leaves Baramati constituency for daughter

NCP chief Sharad Pawar moved to the newly created Madha constituency in the state leaving his pocketborough of Baramati to daughter Supriya Sule, currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Maharashtra will have its own "Amethi" and "Rae Bareli" in these Lok Sabha elections.

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This is because NCP chief Sharad Pawar has now moved to the newly created Madha constituency in the state leaving his pocketborough of Baramati to daughter Supriya Sule, currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.

The act was akin to that of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who during the 2004 elections moved to Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh from Amethi to facilitate her son Rahul Gandhi to contest from there.

Amethi and Rae Bareli have remained the strongholds of the Gandhi-Nehru family in their home turf of Uttar Pradesh and have been represented by Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Indira Gandhi.

Incidentally, Congress has steered away from questions whether there are any plans to field Priyanka Gandhi from Sultanpur, a constituency adjoining Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Pawar has been representing Baramati Assembly or Baramati Lok Sabha seat for the past 40 years.

The Assembly seat is currently represented by his nephew Ajit Pawar, who is a senior Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader.

Madha falls in the adjoining Solapur district while Baramati is in Pune district.