It’s been a relentless 14 months for Supriya Sule. After being betrayed by his cousin Ajit Pawar, who ripped off the party’s name, its election symbol and most of its MLAs, to join the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, Sule and his father Sharad Pawar worked hard to rebuild the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), to prepare it for the elections.

As a working president of the party, Sule’s first victory came when the NCP-SP won eight of the ten seats it contested in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The battlefield is now much larger. But, Sule says, his party and its alliance partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will ensure that the “tyrants” do not win. “Someone has to fight for the truth,” she said. In an exclusive interview with Shailesh Gaikwad and Faisal MalikSule, 55, also insists that his fight with his cousin Ajit Pawar is not a family war but an ideological one “as he now follows the ideology of the BJP-RSS”. Excerpts from the interview:

Campaigning resumes but the atmosphere is different from that of the Lok Sabha elections. At the time, it was the MVA that set the tone; now Mahayuti has done it. Don’t you think that the MVA is lagging behind?

Before the Lok Sabha elections, we were recovering from the split. Nobody thought I could win in Baramati. People were asking: “Where is your party, what is your symbol?” Nobody thought we would win even half of the seats we won. And yet, we won 31 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra. I won by 1.50 lakh votes. During the Lok Sabha elections, they had sidelined us. The same people are now saying that we will not win the parliamentary elections. The truth is that things are certainly better now. It was also the BJP that used the word “narrative”; we were just presenting the facts to people. It was the BJP MPs who said they wanted to change the Constitution, not us.

With the Ladki Bahin Yojna, the ruling parties have managed to reach out to the people. Didn’t they set the election agenda?

They have nothing to show except the Ladki Bahin Yojna. And they woke up only after losing the Lok Sabha elections heavily. If they had won more seats, they would not have remembered their sisters. This government’s tenure was marked by large-scale unemployment, rising prices and incredible corruption. Maharashtra has never seen this level of corruption before.

But your coalition also announced populist projects on Wednesday. It’s almost as if there is a competition to announce solutions in order to attract voters.

Everyone is resorting to populist measures. It’s all over India, not just Maharashtra.

So, all the parties accepted this formula “bad governance but good politics” to win the elections?

Not necessarily. During the Telangana elections, the then government (BRS) had promised much more than what the current Maharashtra government is promising and despite this, it did not win the elections. Here, populist measures came because the MVA performed well in the Lok Sabha elections.

MVA appears to be a house divided on seat sharing. As a result, MVA allies are competing for more than a dozen seats.

This happens in both alliances. The ruling parties also campaign against each other. They don’t talk to each other; they call people terrorists and continue to campaign with them. At least we have a conscience.

This will be an extremely complex election, with so many political parties and a large number of rebel candidates. The general opinion is that it will blow up a hanging house.

I don’t think there will be a hanging house. The voters of Maharashtra are very mature. Look what happened in the Lok Sabha elections. We (NCP-SP) didn’t even have a system in place. Ajit Pawar had usurped all the positions of power. He took away our leaders, our cadres and even the name and symbol of our party. But the people voted for us. It’s amazing how Indian democracy works. People did what they thought was right. We (NCP-SP) won the highest number of Lok Sabha seats ever in Maharashtra. So don’t underestimate voters.

If these elections result in a hung house, will there be a realignment of forces as happened in 2019?

I do not believe that there will be an assembly without a majority, so there is no question of a realignment of forces. People will vote decisively. There is too much chaos in Mahayuti.

Who is your biggest rival in this election?

The BJP.

But in 38 constituencies, you will face the PCN. Isn’t the Ajit Pawar-led party your main rival?

Our main rival remains the BJP because they (the Ajit-led NCP) are allies of the BJP. When you vote for Ajit Pawar, it’s a vote for the BJP, which is actually contesting some 170 seats by fielding some of its supporters through its allies.

Ajit Pawar admitted that he made a mistake by fielding his wife Sunetra against you in the Lok Sabha polls. Now he says Sharad Pawar seems to be making the same mistake by fielding his nephew Yugendra against him.

I don’t know if he hired his wife out of ideological choice or for some other reason. We don’t talk to each other. So I have no idea in what context he said what he did – from a family or ideological point of view. If it was from a family point of view, why did he say it in front of a microphone, instead of directly addressing the family?

So Yugendra’s candidacy is more a question of ideology?

Obviously. The ideology of Ajit Pawar and his party is the ideology of the BJP. Ours is the good old ideology of the Congress and the center-left. They are completely right. Ajit Pawar is clearly on the side of RSS and BJP ideology.

But he also supports Nawab Malik and even campaigned for him.

I think it’s strategic. I don’t buy it. If so many of Ajit’s candidates were dictated by the BJP, why would he challenge them for just one candidate?

How do you see the competition between your party and Ajit Pawar’s party, and the people who abandoned you and teamed up with the BJP?

For me, it is an ideological fight. I would never want to live in fear of anyone, even if they have state agencies on their side. We all know how they (Ajit Pawar and his colleagues) have been treated over the last year and a half. They fought against each other. It’s a confusing alliance.

The BJP has taken a very strong line (on Nawab Malik). The allegation (against Malik) was made by the BJP. The BJP must therefore respond. How far will they compromise just to gain power? A few years ago, the BJP was an honest and straightforward party. BJP 2.0 is very disappointing.

What is your comment on the revelation that RR Patil (former Home Minister) had signed an inquiry order against Ajit Pawar in the irrigation scam without the latter’s knowledge, during the Congress regime- PCN?

All I’m saying is who requested the investigation? Devendra Fadnavis. As leader of the opposition, he forced the government through a barrage of allegations. RR Patil probably thought “let the truth prevail”, and so he agreed to the investigation. He may have thought, “doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani ho jayega” and Ajit will come out with flying colors. But the signature of the Minister of the Interior does not matter. The final authority is the chief minister. The allegations were made by Fadnavis, the final signing of the authority on the inquiry order was made by Fadnavis (when he took over as chief minister), and the same Fadnavis invited Ajit Pawar to the house him and showed him the confidential file. In the first place, how did the file get to him? If you ask me, he (Fadnavis) should be banned from contesting elections.

Is there a possibility of Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar coming together politically?

Unlikely. He (Ajit Pawar) is from the BJP and we are on the other side. It’s also very vague; At the moment, we are in the middle of the legislative elections.

How difficult is the competition for Yugendra Pawar in Baramati?

For us, every election is a fight. Unlike the BJP, we are not the “400 paar” type.

How many seats will the MVA win?

It is too early to say, but we will comfortably form the next government.

Is the PCN (SP) still in the running for the post of prime minister?

No. Sharad Pawar said it very clearly. We are not in the race. We’ll see how the story unfolds.

If you have numbers, would you like to be chief minister?

It’s up to the party to decide. Furthermore, I am not fighting against the legislative elections. I also don’t get drawn into sexist talk about being the “first woman chief minister of Maharashtra”. I think it’s a serious job, which carries a lot of responsibility.

What if the MVA doesn’t come to power? Will it remain intact?

In a democracy, the opposition is as important as the rest. Of course, the MVA will survive. The INDIA alliance is doing very well. From “Modi Sarkar”, it became “NDA Sarkar”. Nothing is permanent in life for anyone.

The term of the State Assembly is about to end and you are still waiting for the Supreme Court verdict on the disqualification case.

Ideally, our party should not have been broken up the way it was. Ideally, there are so many things that shouldn’t have happened. I would have liked the central government and the Adrushya Shakti (invisible force) to respect the Constitution. Our fight against them (BJP) is only because they are constantly against the Constitution. They think they can intimidate others because of the power they have, which is why someone must fight for the truth. It is clear that we will continue to fight for the party and the symbol. But it’s no longer about us; we want to make sure that no one uses this as an example to harm the Constitution and democracy.