Pune: Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and his sister, Member of Parliament Supriya Sule, were unable to celebrate Raksha Bandhan together this year due to their respective pre-scheduled commitments.

Pawar was in Mumbai while Sule was on a tour in Nashik, causing the much-talked-about sibling duo to remain apart during the festival.

The tension within the Pawar family has been palpable ever since the split within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), leading to speculations about whether the siblings would celebrate Raksha Bandhan.

Ajit Pawar, who had been vocal about feeling sidelined within the family, expressed his willingness to have Sule tie the rakhi if she were in Mumbai. However, their busy political schedules prevented the meeting.

Ajit Pawar has been actively promoting the 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin' scheme, aimed at empowering women in the state. The scheme, which has drawn significant attention, also became a point of contention with the opposition.

Critics, including Supriya Sule, have argued that the initiative is a politically motivated move ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections, with concerns about the financial burden it may place on the state.

Despite their separate schedules and the political tension, the absence of a Raksha Bandhan celebration between Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule has become a talking point, especially against the backdrop of the 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin' scheme.

In this backdrop, Ajit Pawar had stated that he would have Supriya Sule tie the rakhi if she were in Mumbai. This sparked curiosity about whether the Sule-Pawar siblings would come together for Raksha Bandhan. However, since both were on pre-scheduled tours, the celebration could not take place as it did last year.