Supriya Sule
Supriya Sule (; born 30 June 1969) is an Indian politician from the Nationalist Congress Party and currently a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 17th Lok Sabha representing Baramati. 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 and his wife Pratibha Pawar on 30 June 1969 in Pune . She was educated at Jai Hind College in Mumbai, earning a B.Sc. degree in microbiology. She married Sadanand Bhalchandra Sule on 4 March 1991 and is the mother of Vijay (son) and Revati (daughter). Sadanand Sule is son of Bhalchandra Sule (former Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra) and his wife Shashi Bhatt (badminton player). Shashi was the daughter of M. D. Bhatt, an Indian Civil Service officer who served as the Chief Secretary of Bombay State. 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, when the coalition government of Maha Vikas Aghadi 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. After marriage, she spent some time in California, where she studied water pollution at UC Berkeley. Subsequently, she moved to Indonesia and Singapore and then returned to Mumbai. Career. Sule was elected to the Rajya Sabha in the September 2006 intake from Maharashtra and is a trustee of the Nehru Centre 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, the several rallies has been organised all over Maharashtra which focused on female fetus abortion, dowry system and women empowerment in general. IPL allegations. In April 2010, Sule denied allegations of financial links between her family and the Indian Premier League (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 IPL matches. In June 2010, "The Economic Times", India's largest business newspaper, reported that Sharad Pawar 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.