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BJP in damage control mode after PM Modi cancels Baramati rally

MUMBAI: Talk of a secret deal between Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demoralised the Pune unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party after the latter cancelled a rally in Baramati earlier this month.

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Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, April 18

Talk of a secret deal between Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demoralised the Pune unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party after the latter cancelled a rally in Baramati earlier this month.

Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, who won from Baramati in 2014, is contesting again and the Maharashtra BJP had made it a prestige issue to get her defeated in what is seen as the pocket borough of the Maratha strongman.

In 2014, Sule had scraped through with a margin of 80,000 votes defeating Mahadev Jankar of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh which is part of the National Democratic Alliance.

BJP leaders in Maharashtra felt that Sule may have well been defeated had Jankar contested under the lotus symbol. Jankar, who is Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, however,  refused to quit the RSP and the BJP fielded Kanchan Kul wife of RSP MLA from Daund Rahul Kul.

Kanchan is contesting on the BJP symbol and workers of the saffron party were upbeat of a major upset in Baramati. Till Modi’s rally scheduled for April 10 was cancelled without any explanation.

BJP workers in the area now fear that Pawar may have struck a deal with Modi. Both leaders are known to share a close bond and Modi had dropped in last year at an event organised at Baramati to felicitate Pawar for his long innings in politics. Modi had even hailed Pawar as his guru in politics and credited the Maratha leader with advising him on a number of policies when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat.

With BJP workers dropping out of the campaigning, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil has stepped in to boost their morale. “After a meeting at 2.15 am, Modiji asked me to call Deven(dra Fadnavis)  and told him that Pawar’s daughter must be defeated at any cost,” Patil said at a meeting of party workers earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar is working overtime in Baramati to ensure his daughter’s victory. Apart from keeping close tabs on her campaign, he has also addressed multiple rallies in the constituency.

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