Supriya Sule (; born 30 June 1969) is an Indian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

from the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party i ...

and currently a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) in the

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started off ...

representing

Baramati Baramati ( aːɾamət̪iː is a city, a tehsil and a municipal council in Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city is about 100 KM (62 miles) southeast of the city of Pune and about 250 KM from Mumbai. Baramati is locat ...

. She previously served as an MP in the 15th and 16th Lok Sabhas. In 2011, she launched a statewide campaign against female foeticide. Recently, she has been honored with Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award by All Ladies League for social service.

Early life

Sule was born to Indian politician and Nationalist Congress Party founder

Sharad Pawar Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: �əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Mini ...

and his wife Pratibha Pawar on 30 June 1969 in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

. She was educated at

Jai Hind College Jai Hind College (Marathi: जय हिंद कॉलेज) is an autonomous college in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, affiliated to the University of Mumbai. It was established in 1948. In 2000, ''India Today'' named Jai Hind College as one ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, earning a B.Sc. degree in microbiology.

Career

Sule was elected to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

in the September 2006 intake from Maharashtra and is a trustee of the

Nehru Centre Nehru Centre is a centre to promote the teachings and ideals of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, through educational and cultural programmes in the city of Mumbai, India. The Centre organises scientific, cultural and educat ...

in Mumbai. She led the state level campaign against female foeticide. The campaign included padayatras, college events, competitions etc. In 2012, under the leadership of Sule, the wing named Rashtravadi Yuvati Congress was formed to give platform to young girls in politics. For past several months, several rallies have been organised all over Maharashtra which focused on female fetus abortion, dowry system and women empowerment in general. Sule is known for her exemplary parliamentary engagement as a member of the Lok Sabha, with her emerging as one of the Best Performers In Lok Sabha on multiple occasions.

IPL allegations

In April 2010, Sule denied allegations of financial links between her family and the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

(IPL), when reports on IPL irregularities in its ownership and functioning surfaced and led India's Minister of State for External Affairs to resign. However, there were reports that her husband owned (via a power of attorney from his father) 10% of a firm that had exclusive multi-year broadcasting rights for IPL matches. In June 2010, ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...

'', India's largest business newspaper, reported that

and Supriya Sule owned 16.22 percent of a firm that had bid for the Pune franchise of IPL. She had previously stated, "I say with full conviction that my husband or my family has nothing to do with these issues (the IPL bids) ... We always stay miles away from it. Yes, we are avid cricket watchers, my husband, my kids, my family, all, and that's where the buck stops." When challenged on this, she said she was just a minority shareholder and cannot be responsible for the firm's actions.

Personal life

She married Sadanand Bhalchandra Sule on 4 March 1991. They have one son - Vijay and one daughter - Revati. Sadanand Sule is son of Bhalchandra Sule (former Managing Director of

Mahindra and Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed as Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group, ...

) and his wife Shashi Bhatt (badminton player). Shashi was the daughter of M. D. Bhatt, an

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

officer who served as the Chief Secretary of

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding So ...

. Shashi died of cancer in the year 1964 while Sadanand was two years old. Bhalchandra Sule later married Anne. Bhalchandra died in 2003. After the

2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election The 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election was held on 21 October 2019 to elect all 288 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, state's Legislative Assembly. After a 61.4% turnout in the election, the ruling National Democratic ...

, when the coalition government of

Maha Vikas Aghadi The Maha Vikas Aghadi or Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (English: ''Maharashtra Development Front''), abbreviated as MVA, is a state-level political coalition formed after the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election under the leadership of Udd ...

was formed in Maharashtra, rumours surfaced on internet which claimed that Sadanand's mother was "Sudha Sule", who was claimed to be the sister of

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro- Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra ...

. After marriage, she spent some time in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where she studied water pollution at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. Subsequently, she moved to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and then returned to Mumbai.

References

External links

*
Profile on Lok Sabha website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sule, Supriya 1969 births Living people People from Baramati Politicians from Pune Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra Maharashtra politicians Women in Maharashtra politics Marathi politicians Jai Hind College alumni Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2014–2019 India MPs 2019–present Women members of the Rajya Sabha Women members of the Lok Sabha 21st-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians