Lok Sabha polls: Sharad Pawar won't contest, grand nephew Parth to be launched

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 11 (ANI): In a surprise announcement, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Monday that he will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, less than a month after declaring that he would enter the poll fray.
The 78-year-old Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister, instead, decided to launch his grand nephew Parth from Maval constituency.
“I thought that already two members of my family are contesting the election and this is the time one should think about not contesting. Hence, I felt this is the right time to take a decision not to contest since I have already contested 14 times in the past,” he said here.
Earlier, on February 20, Pawar had said that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, while his nephew Ajit Pawar and other family members will not contest.
"Ajit Pawar is not going to contest the election, Parth Pawar is not going to contest, Rohit Pawar is not going to contest. Sharad Pawar is going to contest," he had said on February 20.
The former Maharashtra Chief Minister did not contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 as he had then declared that he will keep away from electoral politics.
With the veteran political leader stepping aside, two members from the Pawar family will now contest the general elections, including his daughter Supriya Sule from Baramati constituency and Ajit Pawar's son Parth from Maval seat.
Maval is an NCP stronghold and of Ajit Pawar.
Sharad Pawar had earlier been elected from Baramati constituency on Congress ticket and later from his own party NCP between 1991 and 2009.
In 2009, he launched Supriya Sule who was then a Rajya Sabha member and gave away the home turf of Pawar family, Baramati seat to her, and he himself shifted to Madha constituency.
NCP is contesting the polls in alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra where 48 Lok Sabha seats are at stake. (ANI)