The odds of winning the Baramati seat are toweringly stacked in Supriya's favour. In villages deep inside Bhor and beyond in Purandar taluk in Pune district, part of her Baramati constituency, where she campaigned with zest last week, her father is hugely revered.
Ask any villager, just about anywhere in these parts, why they will vote for Sharad Pawar's party and they look at you bewildered. "Then, who else should I vote for? Of course, I will vote for her. He has done so much work for us."
Loyalty to Pawar is a sturdy commodity around here. The tale of Baramati Shining and Pawar's persistent upliftment, over 25 odd years, of the pocket borough where he was born, with schools, colleges, job opportunities, industry and infrastructure, is well-known (criticism/charges raised by his detractors cannot dull that shine among voters).
Therefore, Supriya has little need to sweat it out. Even if she did not make an appearance in most of these villages, Pawarji ki kanya would probably win hands down.
Then why the unflagging electioneering?
Supriya -- her aides tell you, with a bit of awe, is not just competing against the recently-fielded Bharatiya Janata Party lady candidate Kantatai Nalavade, whose election caravans were not visible on these country roads or in Pune south. She is also competing against Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar, no less.
Her father, who has successfully won the Baramati seat in six Lok Sabha elections, romped home in the 2004 poll by a margin of 450,000 votes. It was the second largest win for any candidate in the country in that election after Bihar's Ram Vilas Paswan from Hajipur.
For Election 2009 Pawar vacated his Baramati seat for his daughter and is contesting from nearby Madha. Supriya hopes to poll more votes than he does in this election.
Is she competitive? "Of course."
To that end she campaigns around the clock. Her charcoal Land Cruiser, that does not sport an NCP flag or a banner, pulls out of Pune city centre each day at 7 am and hits villages and outlying Pune neighbourhoods till midnight.
At each village/locality she receives a generous welcome -- tikka, an aarti ashirvad, sometimes a garland or a sari. She allows the local politician or heavyweight a few minutes of mike time and then she takes over and then her procession rolls on.
Outplaying Pawar, now 68, at his own game, means Supriya needs to have her pulse on her constituency and become the grassroots worker her father has been regarded as. Pawar has been consistently appreciated for his grasp of the aspirations and needs of the people of his constituency and for his strong leadership -- he was Maharashtra's youngest chief minister at the age of 38.
Why do you feel covering each and every village is important?
Unless I study my constituency, how shall I represent them? If someone calls me with a crisis I need to know which part of my constituency they are from. Once I have been there, met them, I feel connected to them. Think about it: Can you put your finger anywhere (on a map), would you feel anything, would you know anything, geeographically or emotionally? I won't even know what the reasons are. I won't even know who to call. But once I have gone to a village I know who to call.
(At the villages) I take notes about their issues -- about say if there is a water problem or somebody comes up with something. It is (then) all in the computer. So the next time I come I know what it is. If someone calls me from there I know what it is. And once I get elected following up will not be difficult.
Image: At one of the 964 villages of her constituency. She had already covered 800 villages by mid-April.
Also see: Another political daughter speaks out | Coverage: India Votes 2009
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