Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday announced that he would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and has decided to make way for his grand-nephew Parth Pawar's launch in active politics. Parth is set to be NCP's candidate from the Maval Lok Sabha seat.

Pawar announced his decision in Pune after meeting senior party members. “After holding talks with family, we were of the opinion that next generation members should be given a chance. There is demand from various party leaders and workers for Parth Pawar’s candidature from Maval,” said Pawar, clearing the way for Parth, son of former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

Pawar said: “Peasants and Workers Party president Jayant Patil and NCP members sought candidature for Parth. The Peasants and Workers Party has a stronghold on Maval. We’ve lost from this constituency twice. So, my colleagues felt that Parth should be given a chance. This is also a family decision. If I had remained in the fray, there would be three of us from the family contesting the polls, which won’t be fair. So I pulled out. Now it is for the party leaders to finalise things."

Parth, 28, has been actively participating in various social as well as political programmes in the Pimpri-Chinchwad region, The Hindustan Times reported. In 2014, however, Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne won the Lok Sabha polls from Maval by a margin of at least 1,70,000 votes with NCP’s Rahul Narwekar coming in third.

In an interview with The Hindustan Times, Parth had expressed willingness to contest polls from Maval. The report said that party workers from Pimpri-Chinchwad, which was once the stronghold of Ajit Pawar and a part of Maval constituency, are backing Parth’s candidature.

In the interview, Parth had said that he was more inclined to work at the Centre than in the state as that would give him a "broader canvass". He also said that he was okay with sitting out in this elections, as age was on his side and if the party decides to field any other candidate from the constituency, he would contest in the 2024 elections.

However, according to a report in the Pune Mirror, Parth's candidature was not taken willingly across the party leadership. In fact, Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule had outrightly denied his candidature earlier, the report said. But, Parth built pressure on the party with hoardings, demanding his candidature and his parents also threw their weight behind him, the report claimed.

Whereas, Parth — who has been busy campaigning at Panvel (part of Maval constituency) — said that the preparations for contesting the elections are in full swing.

Meanwhile, Sule, a sitting MP, will contest the upcoming  Lok Sabha polls from Baramati.

Earlier, in response to a question that suggested he was drawing criticism from other political parties for “dynastic politics”, Pawar had said that, “Parth, Rohit (his other grand-nephew) and Ajit will not contest the election. I am going to contest."

Pawar also did not contest the general elections in 2014 but was elected to the Rajya Sabha. Thereafter he left the Madha seat, which he represented from 2009 to 2014, to party leader Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, who later won it. “I have contested 14 elections and never lost. There was no reason for me to be scared of the 15th election,” Pawar remarked.

However, the BJP is rejoicing at Pawar decision with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis terming it as an action taken after sensing "in which direction the wind is blowing" referring to Narendra Modi's popularity forcing the senior leader to step down out of fear of losing. While political observers believe it is due to infighting and internal resentment within the party that Pawar had to take the decision to side-step.