Day to watch for rebels fate

As people vote today,the Congress and the NCP would be closely watching Pimpri-Chinchwad,where the Congress has fielded a candidate after 15 years and where several NCP corporators had backed rebels.

The Congress had roped in Union Ministers like P Chidambaram,Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot to support the combines official candidate Bhausaheb Bhoir. State minister Harshavardhan Patil too pitched in his best.

Congress got a chance to field its candidate in Pimpri-Chinchwad after 15 years. Earlier,Ramkrishana More contested from here and won. After the formation of NCP in 1999,Pimpri-Chinchwad became the partys bastion. And now,after delimitation,three constituencies of Pimpri,Chinchwad and Bhosari have been created; one of them has gone in favour of the Congress, said Babu Nair,Congress spokesperson.

Bhoir feels his padayatras all over Pimpri-Chinchwad will help. NCP rebel Laxman Jagtaps men in Pimple Gurav and Sangvi threatened Congress workers. So,we requested Home Minister P Chidambaram and other senior leaders to come to Chinchwad and address a rally..His visit boosted morale of the party workers, said Bhoir. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had criticised Jagtap at a rally on Saturday for turning rebel and apealed to people not to vote for him, said Nair.

Bhoir also flayed Mayor Aparna Doke who had initially campaigned for Jagtap but later stopped canvassing for him. I appreciate the sincerity of the mayor and her husband. After being reprimanded by senior NCP leaders,they campaigned for whoever she had to,but not openly, he said.

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