Supriya Sule


Supriya Sule is an Indian politician from the Nationalist Congress Party and currently a Member of Parliament in 15th,16th and 17th Lok Sabha representing Baramati.
In 2011, she launched a statewide campaign against female foeticide. Recently, she has been honored with Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award by for her outstanding contribution to social service.

Early life

Sule was born to Sharad and Pratibhatai Sharadchandra 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 mother of Vijay and Revati. Like her father, Supriya Sule is also an Ambedkarite.
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 Bombay.
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 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 10% of a firm that had exclusive multi-year broadcasting rights IPL matches.
In June 2010, 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 ... 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.