After Supriya Sule defeated her in the Baramati Lok Sabha Constituency, Sunetra Pawar is set to enter Parliament via a backdoor entry. Reports indicate that Sunetra Pawar has been finalized as the NCP candidate for a Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra, following Praful Patel’s vacating his existing seat to secure a longer term in the last Rajya Sabha elections.
Reports on Thursday morning indicated that veteran NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was displeased with Sunetra Pawar’s nomination. However, Bhujbal called for a press conference and clarified that there's no truth to these reports.
Sunetra Pawar’s candidacy was confirmed at a late-night meeting of senior NCP leaders at the Devgiri residence on Wednesday. She is expected to file her Rajya Sabha nomination today at 1:30 PM in the presence of senior party leaders. Chhagan Bhujbal, Parth Pawar, Anand Paranjpe, and Baba Siddiqui were also in contention for the NCP nomination.
Reports indicated that a faction within the NCP is unhappy with Sunetra Pawar's nomination. The dissatisfaction stems from the perception that key decisions are made solely by Sunil Tatkare, Ajit Pawar, and Praful Patel without consulting others, reports said.
Bhujbal, however, said there was no rift in the party and the decision was taken after consultation with him.
"We had a core group meeting last night. All senior leaders were present for the meeting. We unanimously decided to nomination Sunetra Pawa for the Rajya Sabha," Bhujbal said.
Bhujbal agreed that he, along with several others, were interested in being nominated. "But the party functions with consensus. The consensus was to send Sunetra Pawar to Rajya Sabha and I've no problem with it."
When asked if he was unhappy with the decision, Bhujbal said, "There is no question of being unhappy. Do I look unhappy to you?"
Meanwhile, Sunetra Pawar will file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat at the Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai.