NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said political rapprochement with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is not possible till he is aligned with the BJP and said she will not be a CM post aspirant if the MVA is voted to power.
In an exclusive interview to PTI, four-time Lok Sabha member Sule said people voted very assertively in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and there is clarity in the voters' mind now.
She feels that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising NCP (SP), Congress, and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), will also do much better in the November 20 state assembly polls.
Out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, MVA gained 30 and another independent who is supporting the opposition alliance.
Last year, Sule's cousin Ajit Pawar and several other NCP MLAs sided with the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state. Which resulted in a split in the party founded by her father Sharad Pawar.
Shinde led rebellion against Shiv Sena's leadership and split that party in June 2022.
It is difficult to say if Pawars can join hands with Ajit Pawar politically. So long as he remains with the BJP it will not be easy. Our ideologies remain the challenge politically." On reports that she could be the CM face of the MVA, she said, "I am not contesting elections and NCP (SP) has clarified that we are not in the race for the post of CM. We have clarity and we will go along with whoever our partners decide." Asked if the assembly polls will put to rest a fractured polity in Maharashtra, the parliamentarian said that the Lok Sabha election results have already settled the confusion.
There is already clarity in the state. There is no issue as such except that the legal fight continues because of the illegal way parties were broken, the illegal way they were given to people.the fight will continue,'' she said.
Sule denied there was any strategy to contest only 10 Lok Sabha seats.
Our party is about service and not strategy. We do not strategise.we are focused on serving the nation and doing good policy work, she said.
The NCP is contesting 86 out of 288 assembly seats in the state elections as per the seat-sharing arrangement of MVA allies and is confident of doing well, she said.
There is nothing wrong if the seat-sharing formula among the MVA allies takes a little longer to finalise, said Sule.
" Alliance talks in a vibrant democracy take time. One needs to be respectful towards allies. We made sure we didn't bulldoze anyone, she said.
Sule said she does not see the contest in Baramati assembly seat, Pawars' family bastion where Ajit Pawar is pitted against his nephew Yugendra Pawar, as anything more than an ideological fight.
'We are with the Congress and they are with the BJP. We fight the BJP, so we fight its allies,' she said.
Grateful to the voters for giving her the fourth Lok Sabha term this year, Sule said she hoped the assembly polls will be fair in Baramati and claimed people were being threatened by the ruling dispensation.
"People are brave and I will stand by them," she maintained.
On Ajit Pawar asking Baramati voters to make him happy by electing him, Sule said for her contesting and winning elections is not for self-happiness.
"This is not happiness, this is service for me. My politics is about serving the nation and doing good and serious policy work, she asserted.
''If I would ask for votes, it would not be for my happiness, it would be for people's happiness. I want my every stakeholder to be happy. If they are happy, I will be happy,'' she said.
On emotions at play in Baramati during the general elections and now in the assembly polls, Sule said leaders are not allowed to show emotions in public.
If a leader crumbles, then how will the family members survive. Being a leader is a lonely job. We have to be empathetic and compassionate in our behaviour but not crumble emotionally, she said.
On NCP's division after she was made the party working president, Sule said Ajit Pawar held a powerful position in decision-making, and she was ready to debate with anyone, including him, on how can she be blamed for the split in the party.
'I believe in transparency,' she said.
Sule said the MVA will get a clear mandate to provide an honest, stable and progressive government to end unemployment, corruption and inflation.
She also said that both (ruling and opposition) alliances decided not to project a CM face. Whether or not it is needed depends on time-to-time, situation-to-situation, she added.
Sule also said the NCP (SP) was not a regional party.
We were a national party, we were downgraded and our party was broken illegally and the fight continues in the Supreme Court. What was done to Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray was completely unfair,'' she said.
