Sharad Pawar On Defensive, Denies ‘Outsider’ Remark About Ajit’s Wife

Veteran leader Sharad Pawar has backtracked on his controversial remark about nephew Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra, whom he had described as an ‘outsider’ in Baramati. Pawar had passed this remark while campaigning for his daughter Supriya Sule, and appealed to the electors indirectly to vote for a ‘local’ candidate. This remark to further Supriya’s prospects became viral and has been condemned by several women activists. Alerted by the likely backlash during voting, Pawar clarified before the media in Satara that he had never made such a statement. ‘I was only reacting to Ajit’s call to elect his wife by saying that after the people of Baramati had elected myself, Ajit and Supriya, they should elect another Pawar.”  Ajit and Sunetra were married in 1985, almost four decades ago. Although she has refused to react to the thorny issue, it is becoming election ammunition. Sunetra is the younger sister of Dr Padamsingh Patil, an ardent former confidant of Pawar and Dharashiv (Osmanabad) strongman, dreaded for his daredevil style of politics. In a bid to blunt likely opposition attacks, Pawar mentioned that he was the first chief minister in India to implement a special policy for women whereby they were granted reservations for local body elections. He recalled that it was during his term as defence minister that women were inducted in defence services.