Why is Supriya Sule not in NCP posters?

Daughter of party chief Sharad Pawar nowhere in NCP posters, an omission made more glaring by the prominent presence of her cousin and deputy CM Ajit Pawar

There is a prominent absentee in the posters of the Nationalist Congress Party the daughter of the party's head, Sharad Pawar, and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule.

But conspicuously seen is the image of cousin, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar.


An NCP hoarding after the appointment of Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister. Supriya Sule does not feature in the hoarding


Earlier, Sule featured prominently on every other poster, only after senior office bearers like former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and Home Minister R R Patil.
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But now the woman who represents Baramati constituency is nowhere to be spotted, overpowered by the deputy.

The differences within the party are public knowledge, as is the recent memory of Ajit Pawar, having already pipped Bhujbal, his predecessor, in the Cabinet reshuffle post Adarsh housing scam for the deputy's chair, and getting his loyalists plum posts.

Rubbishing rumours of discrimination, Narendra Verma, president of Mumbai NCP, says the party has no particular favourites.
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He said, "Posters are put up by party supporters and there are many leaders featuring on them. They put the pictures at a venture. There are no guidelines to include or exclude a particular picture in the poster."

But, he said, "There is a protocol now, where the first picture is of Sharad Pawar, then comes Madhukar Pichad, the state president, followed by Deputy CM Bhujbal, and senior leaders like Patil and myself."

But what about her nonappearance in the posters earlier, on father's birthday?

During the birth anniversary of senior Pawar, most of the posters in the city had Ajit Pawar's pictures whereas Supriya was nowhere to be seen.
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"There is a lobby and it's always been the culture to support and appease the strong man.

Hence one can easily see the pictures of Ajit dada rather prominently displayed," said a party insider.

An inquiry?

According to sources, the posters had led to a controversy within the party and senior leaders like Jayant Patil and Sachin Ahir were heading an inquiry.

It concerned rumours that many party taluka presidents within the city were unhappy that they were given specific dictates about whose picture should be there and whose shoudn't in the hoardings.

This made the senior leaders step in to solve the discontent. "This was not an inquiry.

Instead, it was feedback from the taluka level presidents and others," refuted Verma. Incidentally, in the city, the NCP's promotional posters have been scaled down in numbers.