Sulking Alexander files papers, says Cong hurt him

‘‘A few overzealous Congress leaders were making the campaign against me a personal one. Even after my name was dropped, the chief spokesperson of the party went to he extent of claiming that ‘we deem it an outstanding positive achievement to get Alexander out’. Other similar statements followed,’’ he told media today after filing his papers.

Sitting in the RS, after being in the race for the president, is not a comedown, he said. ‘‘I don’t consider it lower than Cabinet minister or council of ministers.’’ Asked if he would accept a Cabinet position given by the NDA Government at the Centre, Alexander refused to offer a categorical answer. ‘‘All this is sudden and new. My mind is not working in terms of a position,’’ he said.

Alexander’s rival and former Shiv Sena MP Suresh Keswani also filed his nomination papers for the by-election to Rajya Sabha necessitated by the death of NCP MP Mukesh Patel.

The Congress felt ‘‘betrayed’’ at the decision of its coalition partner, NCP, to extend support to Alexander, supported by the Shiv Sena-BJP. Terming the decision as ‘‘an act to embarrass the Congress high command’’, PCC president Govindrao Adik said: ‘‘They said BJP was their enemy in their introspection convention at Kolhapur. Barely 24 hours after that, without the knowledge of the Congress, the NCP extends support to the Sena-BJP supported candidate. How can we trust the NCP?’’

Reacting to Alexander’s tirade against the Congress, Adik has categorically said that if the former state Governor is looking for Congress support, he will have to speak to the party high command regarding the same.

Keswani’s nomination was endorsed by seven Congress MLAs and three Independents. Significantly, these three Independents had shifted their loyalties to the Sena-BJP camp before the government faced a trust vote. Keswani, too, jumped in the fray as an Independent.

Sources from the election office at Vidhan Bhavan said that Keswani had not submitted an affidavit declaring details about his background and assets. He has been allowed to file the affidavit till 12 noon on Tuesday when the scrutiny of the applications will begin.

‘‘The Congress had no time to decide on official candidate. The NCP has let us down. The NCP had requested us not to contest the seat as it is held by them,’’ said Adik. ‘‘We decided to opt out of the race in favour of the official NCP candidate,’’ he said.