Amit Shah: BJP will sweep Baramati

Mumbai: BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday said his party would win the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, the pocket borough of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, by a “huge margin” and stressed there was no “friendly fight” between the two parties.

Mr Pawar’s daughter and sitting NCP MP Supriya Sule is pitted against BJP’s Kanchan Rahul Kul. Addressing a poll rally in Baramati, Mr Shah said, “There was no plan to have my rally in Baramati as chief minister Devendra Fadanvis has done a good job and the party had reduced the number of my rallies in Maharashtra. But someone has spread rumours that there is a friendly fight between BJP and Mr Pawar.”

He added that he decided to visit Baramati to send across the message that the BJP was going to win the seat by a huge margin. “There cannot be a friendly fight here because the BJP is pulling out all the stops to win the seat,” he said.

Ms Kul, wife of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) MLA from Daund, Rahul Kul, is contesting on the BJP’s lotus symbol unlike in 2014 when state minister Mahadev Jankar fought on his RSP symbol with support from the BJP.

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