After Parth, Rohit is the next Pawar in Maha poll fray

While Aaditya Thackeray’s jump into the electoral fray was under focus on Thursday, scion from another political family in Maharashtra also has entered the poll

While Aaditya Thackeray’s jump into the electoral fray was under focus on Thursday, scion from another political family in Maharashtra also has entered the poll arena.

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Rohit Pawar, grandnephew of Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, filed his nomination papers from Karjat-Jamkhed Assembly constituency in Ahmednagar district. He will be contesting on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Ram Shinde.

The NCP had sought applications from aspirants from across the state for the Assembly elections. The 33-year-old, too, had applied for candidature after consulting his grandfather [Sharad Pawar], he said.

He is the second scion in the family to enter the electoral fray after Parth Pawar, son of senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar. Parth, however, faced defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Maval constituency against sitting Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne.

The contest for Karjat-Jamkhed will also be a tough one for Rohit, as the BJP has retained the seat since 1995. The opposition parties have failed to win the seat for the past five Assembly elections. Currently, is it being represented by BJP minister Ram Shinde. He is a two-term MLA from the constituency. Before him, Sadashiv Lokhande was the MLA for three terms. The last time the Congress won the seat was in 1990 (Vitthal Bhailume).

“I am trying to gain people’s confidence and focusing on party structure in the district,” Rohit said, when asked about his strategy. “Work hard till the last moment, take people and volunteers into confidence and try reaching out to maximum number of people,” he said was the success mantra his grandfather gave him.

Rohit was seen accompanying Pawar during his tour of drought-hit areas in the state a few months ago. Within the NCP, there is a talk about Pawar guiding his grand-nephew on the nitty-gritties of public life. He entered local politics, after getting elected to Pune zilla parishad (ZP) from Baramati, the pocketborough of the Pawars, in 2017.

The grandson of Pawar’s elder brother Dinkarrao, Rohit has been associated with sugar and poultry business. After he graduated in management studies from the Mumbai University, he joined Baramati Agro Limited, an agro-industry in which his father, Rajendra Pawar, is the managing director. He is also the president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, an association of private and cooperative sugar mills in India.

The third generation member of Pawar family is confident of breaking the trend of past five Assembly elections. “I chose to contest from this seat as I can work for people. In addition, this will help me do away with tags such as dynasty politics,” Rohit said.