PUNE: After hunting for days, NCP (SCP) has found a ground at Old Morgaon Road in Kasba to hold the last election rally for Supriya Sule, the party’s candidate for the Baramati Lok Sabha seat.
Traditionally, the ground in Christian Colony has been the venue for the last more than 40 years where the patriarch and NCP founder Sharad Pawar addresses supporters after hosting a family lunch. However, this time, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has booked this private trust-owned facility for his wife, Sunetra, to officially end the campaign.
Karjat-Jamkhed MLA and Sharad Pawar’s grandson Rohit Pawar said many had switched their allegiance to Ajit Pawar but those who followed his grandfather’s ideology were still with the party and the new ground would witness support for the ‘man playing tutari’ symbol of NCP-SCP.
“Both our party and symbol were stolen. Besides, the political machinery which Ajit Pawar had promised to use for Supriya Sule was also stolen just six months before the Lok Sabha elections were announced. Now the ground where the concluding election rally has been held for more than 40 years is also snatched. But they do not know that they can only steal people and not their ideology,” he said.
The rally would be held at 2.30pm on May 5, Rohit said, adding, “I urge people to come in large numbers and also take precautions for the heat.”
A senior NCP-SCP politician from Baramati said the new ground, which had a capacity to accommodate around 15,000 people, had never witnessed any political event. Supriya had earlier said that like the party name and symbol, they (faction led by Ajit Pawar) had taken away the ground from them.
“It is disappointing and we will redefine it in a new way. This tradition of holding a final rally on this ground was started by Sharad Pawar even before Ajit Pawar came into politics,” she had said.
A senior politician from Ajit Pawar’s group had earlier said that they were the real NCP. “We have booked the ground for the concluding election rally. There is no question of asking who will get it because we are the real NCP, and it has been recognised by the Election Commission as well. The tradition to hold the rally on this ground has been followed for over 40 years by NCP and we will continue it this time too.”
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