Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar (PTI photo/file)

New Delhi: Senior leaders of NCP (SP) including party chief Sharad PawarSupriya Sule and Rohit Pawar on Thursday appealed to the Congress to withdraw their candidate against NCP president and Maharashtra Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati Assembly by-election.The by-election was necessitated by the death of then Maharashtra deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in January. He had held the Baramati seat – a Pawar family stronghold – since the 1960s, winning it continuously since 1991.Sunetra Pawar is the wife of Ajit Pawar.Sharad Pawar, who founded the NCP and led it for 24 years before Ajit Pawar broke the party in July 2023, acknowledged that the final decision lies with the Congress but urged that it should withdraw its candidate.He told reporters in Baramati, “Congress is a national party and we cannot direct it to withdraw its candidate. However, the Baramati seat fell vacant due to a tragic accident, which took away an accomplished leader from Maharashtra. If asked, I would suggest that it would be appropriate for the Congress to contest this by-election unopposed.”The Congress, part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi along with the NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), has fielded lawyer Akash More for the April 23 bypoll.NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar and cousin of Ajit Pawar, also made a similar appeal to the Congress.Sule said, “Ajit Dada had previously worked closely with the Indian National Congress and had always maintained cordial relations with your party. An unopposed election in Baramati would be a true tribute to him. I humbly appeal to the Congress to withdraw its candidate and help ensure that the by-election is conducted unopposed.”Both Sharad and Ajit Pawar were in the Congress before Sharad Pawar founded the NCP in June 1999.Earlier, Sharad Pawar’s grandson, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar met Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal and urged him to withdraw his nomination to facilitate the unopposed election of his aunt Sunetra Pawar.Congress has announced that it will withdraw from the elections, but only if an FIR is filed to investigate Ajit Pawar’s death.Opposition parties in Maharashtra have alleged foul play, noting that the two NCP factions were close to merging at the time. The proposed reunion has since been cancelled.NCP (SP) has announced that it will not contest the Baramati by-election.Sunetra Pawar-led NCP is part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance with BJP and Shiv Sena.