MUMBAI: Parth Pawar, 35, is likely to be elected to the Rajya Sabha by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), an ambition he’s been nursing for at least two years. Parth will likely replace his mother and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar as a member of parliament (MP) from the upper house, according to party insiders.
Sunetra, who has replaced her deceased husband Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti alliance government, is expected to give up her seat as Rajya Sabha MP and contest the Baramati by-election, a seat that fell vacant after Ajit Pawar’s death in a plane crash on January 28.
According to constitutional provisions, Sunetra will have to become a member of one of the two houses of the state legislature – assembly or council – within six months of taking oath as a minister in the ministerial council.
“Parth’s name has been finalised by the Ajit Pawar family. The NCP leadership is also on board,” said a senior party functionary. However, he said, the BJP, the senior partner in the Mahayuti alliance, had apprehensions about Parth’s candidature as he has been linked to the controversial Mundhwa land deal. But they eventually relented.
“The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed its charge sheet in the Mundhwa land deal and Parth’s name did not figure in it. The BJP leadership has changed its stand on Parth,” said the NCP leader.
The Mundhwa land deal involves the transfer of a 40-acre prime plot in Pune, owned by the state government, to Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth is a majority partner. Later, stamp duty charges amounting to ₹21 crore were also waived, kicking up a further row.
The high-powered committee set up to investigate the land deal is yet to submit its report. On Thursday, state revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said it was wrong to state that Parth has been given a clean shit as the committee is yet to finalise its report.
Meanwhile, Parth is all set to fulfil his dream of becoming a Rajya Sabha MP, a position he tried to secure twice in 2024. He threw his hat into the ring in February that year, when a seat fell vacant following the resignation of NCP working president Praful Patel. But he withdrew his name after his father chose his mother Sunetra for the position.
Parth waited in the wings for four months – the party had promised him a berth during the next election – when another Rajya Sabha seat was vacated in June. But, this time, the seat went to Satara’s Nitin Pawar.
Parth has not been active, or successful, in electoral politics. He was defeated in 2019, when he contested the Maval seat in the Lok Sabha elections. He lost by over 2.15 lakh votes to sitting Shiv Sena (undivided) MP Shrirang Barne.
In the absence of Ajit Pawar, Sunetra is expected to lean heavily on her sons, Parth and Jay, in running the party. Parth has also been accompanying his mother to Delhi. Also, it was he who went to meet NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar and other members of the Pawar family, in a damage-control bid, as the senior Pawar had not been invited to Sunetra Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony.