MUMBAI, Jan 14: There were few upsets in the first list of the Congress from Maharashtra and yet it has come as a surprise to many Congressmen in the State. For almost all the sitting MPs have been renominated, including those against whom the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) had expressed reservations to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) that finally decided the candidatures.These include by and large those member of Parliament whose names had been associated with horse trading by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) preceding the dissolution of the Lok Sabha after the Congress withdrew support to the United Front (UF) Government. Among these are Praful Patel (Bhandara), Datta Meghe (Ramtek) and Madan Patil (Sangli). All are considered close supporters of Sharad Pawar, who has been renominated from Baramati against advise from a section of party that he should be pitted against Suresh Kalmadi in Pune.According to sources in the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), the PEC had also recommended the dropping of Kallappa Awade after the BJP in Maharashtra went tom-toming round town that he was slated to join their party "any moment" a la Kalmadi.In his place, the Pradesh Election Committee had proposed the name of 1996 rebel Nivedita Mane who defected to the BJP and re-defected to the Congress recently in the hope that she would be awarded the ticket. "It might be that the BJP will now go chasing after her again," a rueful Congress leader said.Another re-defector to the Congress is Rajni Patil, the BJP’s sitting MP from Beed, which has not figured in the first list. Only three seats where the party has sitting MPs have been left out for now: Pune held by Kalmadi, Khed and Kolhapur.Sandeepan Thorat, a six-term MP who has sat in the Lok Sabha for 30 years through all Prime Ministers since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was another surprise case. Thorat has held the reserved Pandharpur seat, never lost by the Congress since Independence, and the Pradesh Election Committee had believed it was time for a new face to be projected."Seems like one old man has convinced another," said the Congress leader, referring to the equation between Thorat and party president Sitaram Kesri over the years.In renominating the sitting members pf Parliament including those associated with potential defection to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress leaders feel the party high command has played safe. However, Kesri appears not to have given in all the way to potential rebels, for Meghe has been confined to Ramtek when it was his earnest desire to switch to Wardha this time round. He earlier represented Nagpur and partymen expressed their happiness that the leadership has frowned down at his penchant for seat-hopping.The new faces that the PEC has promised all along are likely to be announced in the party’s second list, sources said. Many of these seats the party lost the last time round due to voter-ennui vis-a-vis the tired candidatures of Congressmen.Meanwhile, those renominated include: Colaba - AR Antulay, Nandurbar (ST) - Manikrao H Gavit, Ramtek - Datta Meghe, Bhandara - Praful Patel, Nanded - Gangadhar Kunturkar, Latur - Shivraj Patil, Pandharpur (SC): Sandipan Thorat, Ahmednagar - Devram Maruti Shelke, Baramati - Sharad Pawar, Karad - Prithiviraj Chavan, Sangli - Madan Patil, Ichalkaranji - Kallappa Awade.
