The crucial Baramati Lok Sabha seat, which both the rival NCP factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar have claimed, may witness a three-way contest after Vijay Shivtare, a former Maharashtra Minister and senior leader of the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, announced his intention to contest the seat, which is a bastion of the Pawar clan.
Mr. Shivtare, spewing vitriol on the Pawar clan, in particular at Ajit Pawar — his current ally in the government — said on Monday that the time had come to take revenge on the Pawar clan. The Shinde camp leader’s comments come in the wake of increased tensions among the three Mahayuti partners — the BJP, Mr. Shinde’s Sena faction, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP — over seat-sharing.
A former two-term MLA from Purandar (one of six Assembly segments in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat), Mr. Shivtare’s remarks will increase Ajit Pawar’s worries, given that the Deputy CM is widely believed to be seeking a ticket for his wife, Sunetra, as the Mahayuti’s potential candidate to take on incumbent MP, Supriya Sule (Sharad Pawar’s daughter).
