With the Bharatiya Janata Party talking about wresting the Baramati constituency in the 2024 elections, the Nationalist Congress Party’s state unit chief Jayant Patil on Wednesday said that the sun may rise in the west, but the people of Baramati will never abandon NCP chief Sharad Pawar. However, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said even former prime minister Indira Gandhi had to concede defeat and hence nobody should be under the illusion that he or she cannot be defeated.
Baramati in the Pune district has been the stronghold of Sharad Pawar who had represented the constituency multiple times, including his days in the Indian National Congress. His daughter Supriya Sule is the sitting MP and nephew Ajit Pawar is the MLA. BJP’s state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who was on a Baramati tour on Tuesday, had said that the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena combine will win the Baramati constituency, currently represented by NCP’s Supriya Sule, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections along with 45 of the total 48 constituencies in the state.
Commenting on the BJP leader’s statement, NCP’s Patil told reporters in Sangli district that several persons had tried to dig into Baramati, but no one had managed to get water (win) there. “This attempt (of conquering Baramati) is not new. The sun may rise in the west, but Baramati will never leave Sharad Pawar,” the former Maharashtra minister said.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at Purandar in the Pune district, Fadnavis said, “We are not carrying out this campaign (of reaching out to constituencies) to defeat an individual. Our mission is to win Maharashtra and we want to win seats. An individual is secondary there.” “Even former prime minister Indira Gandhi had to concede defeat and hence nobody should be under the illusion that he or she cannot be defeated,” he added.
Fadnavis said that the BJP has come up with ‘Mission Maharashtra’ and ‘Mission India’, and since Baramati is part of Maharashtra, it comes under ‘Mission Maharashtra’. The BJP has launched a campaign to boost the party’s base in more than 140 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country including Baramati and 15 other seats in Maharashtra.
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