With just an hour left for Baramati contest, Congress withdraws

Pune/Mumbai: With just an hour left to withdraw the nomination, the Congress on Thursday finally responded to the demands of the Pawar family and Mahayuthy’s associates by dropping NCP chief and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar’s candidate in the Baramati by-election. Twenty-two independent candidates remain in the race, but there are now no major challenges for her widow. Ajit Pawarhe died in a plane crash on January 28, necessitating a by-pass. Voting will take place on April 23 and counting will take place on May 4. chief minister of maharashtra Devendra FadnavisSunetra Pawar, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule and MLA Rohit Pawar spoke to senior Congress leaders to convince the party not to field candidates in Baramati, the constituency that Ajit Pawar has represented since 1991. Even Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar, who had earlier said there was nothing wrong with the Congress party’s campaign in the Baramati bypoll, has now advised his alliance partners to withdraw. “Maharashtra has lost a talented politician like Ajit Pawar. The Baramati seat fell vacant due to a tragic accident and in this context, my advice to the Congress is not to contest from this seat. This is a national party and the best we can do is attract them. Ultimately, it has to take a decision,” Sharad Pawar said. Rohit Pawar met state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal in Mumbai demanding withdrawal of troops, followed by another delegation of NCP leaders, including MLA Sana Malik, also met him for the same purpose. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called Sapkar. “I request Sapkar to follow the Maharashtra tradition and withdraw troops from Baramati like the BJP did after the death of former home minister Patil,” he said.