Rajya Sabha Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan on Thursday administered the oath to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Parth Pawar as a newly elected Member of Parliament (MP) from Maharashtra at Parliament House.
Parth Pawar, 35, took the oath in English in the presence of the Leader of the House J. P. Nadda and Congress Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh and several other leaders.
He is the son of NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who passed away in a plane crash earlier this year.
Prior to Ajit Pawar's death, his wife Sunetra Pawar had been elected to the Rajya Sabha. Following the tragic incident, she assumed office as Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister and subsequently stepped down from the Upper House.
Parth Pawar was later elected to the Rajya Sabha with the backing of the NCP's strength in the state Assembly, where the party holds 40 MLAs. He had earlier contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Maval constituency but was defeated by Shiv Sena's Shrirang Barne.
In a parallel political development, NCP(SP) Legislator Rohit Pawar on Thursday met the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Harshwardhan Sapkal, urging him to withdraw the party nominee Akash More for an unopposed election of NCP candidate and state Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar in the April 23 Baramati by-election.
Rohit Pawar's plea is important as Thursday is the last date of withdrawal of nomination at 3 p.m. for the Baramati by-election in which 47 contestants have filed their nominations.
Pawar, after meeting Harshwardhan Sapkal, told reporters, "I made a request to the state Congress chief for the withdrawal of the party nominee, which will pave the way for the unopposed election of Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati bypoll. This is necessary as the bypoll is taking place after the untimely demise of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, and the unopposed election will be a tribute to him. It is now up to the Congress party to make a decision. I am quite hopeful about the Congress party's move. It is a national party, and it will make a decision after the due process."
Rohit Pawar said that the Congress party has taken a stand that the state government should register an FIR in the plane crash in which former Dy CM Ajit Pawar died on January 28.
He further added that he has been pressing for the same for a long time, and ultimately, the FIR was filed in Karnataka with the help of the Congress government there.
During the meeting, Rohit Pawar facilitated a video call with Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala to discuss the sensitivity of the situation.
"Following the loss of a stalwart like Ajit Dada, it is essential to view this election through an emotional lens as a true tribute to him," Rohit Pawar stated.
"As a family member and a karyakarta, I have appealed to Congress to withdraw their nomination," he added.
Earlier, Sunetra Pawar had personally reached out to Harshvardhan Sapkal twice to request an unopposed path; the Maharashtra Congress leadership has deferred the final decision to the "High Command" in Delhi.
"The decision to contest Baramati was taken at the national level. Therefore, any move to withdraw must be discussed with the High Command and follow their counsel," a Congress source indicated.