Don’t judge my work based on gender: Deputy CM Sunetra

Pune: NCP president and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Sunday vowed to carry forward the legacy of her late husband Ajit Pawar and said her work should not be judged on the basis of her gender.

She kick-started the campaign for the Baramati Assembly bypoll by following the tradition of taking darshan of Lord Hanuman in Kanheri village.

Sunetra Pawar said there were initial apprehensions about whether, as a woman, she would be able to shoulder the responsibility.

“However, with the blessings of Ajitdada and the support of the people of Baramati, I found the strength to face the challenge,” she said after taking darshan of Lord Hanuman at a temple in Kanheri village, where the late deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar used to start his poll campaigns.

Referring to the plane crash that killed then Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, she said the scattered papers at the site are testimony that Ajitdada was working till his last breath.

“After his tragic passing away, we have to take his legacy of work forward. More than any other ideology, social service was Ajitdada’s ideology, and he was committed to giving justice to everyone without thinking of caste, creed, or religion,” she said.

Sunetra Pawar added that Ajitdada gave justice to the women in Maharashtra through the implementation of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, a financial assistance scheme of the government for women from economically weaker sections, which provides them with a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500.

Sunetra Pawar underscored that she is the daughter-in-law of a family that has shaped policies for women, and her work should not be judged on the basis of gender. She promised to take the developmental works started by Ajit Pawar forward, assuring that the water scarcity in 33 villages of Baramati tehsil will be addressed.

The bypoll, scheduled for April 23, was necessitated by the death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in January this year. He represented the Baramati constituency for eight terms, serving as an MLA since 1991.

Amid calls for making the contest unopposed, the Congress pulled out its candidate on the last day of withdrawing nominations on April 9. However, 22 Independent candidates are still in the fray against Sunetra Pawar.