In Baramati, it's still Pawar and glory

In the backwater Pawar converted into a model constituency, Madhav
Gokhale finds, Sharad is infallible





Baramati stands baffled. Yet, believing the all-weather notion that
Sharad Pawar can never go wrong, this agro-industrial town — Pawar's
constituency, borough and dream rolled into one — is concealing its
confusion.

Most of the NCP cadre are relieved that reports of a Pawar-NDA tie-
up have finally been nullified. ``It can't be like that,'' said one
party worker, ``media creates all the confusion.''

Behind the bluster, Baramati is cautious, watching its words. After
all it owes Pawar just so much, he is not merely legislator here; he
is social mentor. At the sprawling complex of the Vidya Pratishthan —
Pawar's educational complex — as much as the cheese-making Dynamix
Dairy or the dusty premises of the NCP's local headquarters, Pawar
is omni-important.



``Why should he (Pawar) stand at the doors of those who never
thought twice before hitting him below the belt?'' asks Chandarrao
Taware, a local Pawar associate. ``Munde, (Pramod) Mahajan and
Thackeray have abused Pawar in the past ... It is always good to be
a servant of a wise man than being master of a fool.''

Another acolyte of Pawar's in Baramati is S.S. Hiremath. This sugar
management expert says joining the BJP would cause problems within
the NCP. Indeed, some had even warned of a split.

Pawar and Baramati share a mutual symbiosis. Baramati nurtured Pawar
in his early years and has not stopped reaping the benefit. Its
fortunes closely resemble Pawar's career graph. As Pawar's political
career blossomed, Baramati's prosperity multiplied. Education,
cooperatives, industries, agro-processing — in so many areas, it
owes just so much to the man.

A world class milk and fruit processing unit, Dynamix — it has
sourcing orders from Britannia, Tropicana and Nestle — is housed
here. The latest addition is a biotech centre, now awaiting a formal
inauguration.

Italian auto major Piaggio has its Indian manufacturing base here,
looking to evolve it into an export hub for Asia, Africa and even
Latin America. Baramati is also a centre of the nascent Indian wine
industry.

Last but not the least, when it comes to flexing muscle or show of
political strength, the farmers of Baramati and nearby regions are
Pawar's loyal footsoldiers.

Known for its sugarcane and grape orchards, Baramati taluka — a
cluster of 117 villages — now hosts an annual information and
communication technology and development do. E-commerce and e-
governance are Pawar's new baby.

The recently launched Baramati wired village initiative is based on
the CorDect wireless in local loop (WLL) technology developed by IIT
Chennai's Ashok Jhunjhunwala. The plan is to network 75-odd villages
in a 25-km radius and introduce e-governance, e-commerce facilities
over the next six months.

By then, Pawar would have figured whether he's pro-Sonia or anti-
Sonia, pro-NDA or anti-NDA. Or would he?

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