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Journalism of Courage
Rejecting the Congresss call to step down from the election fray in Amravati,state minister Sunil Deshmukh quit the party on Tuesday choosing to take on the party nominee,President Pratibha Patils son Rajendra Shekhawat,as an Independent candidate. Party sources said they tried to dissuade Deshmukh by sending national general secretary Avinash Pande to talk to him,but the MLA said he would not withdraw as it was a battle for Amravatis self-respect.
However,the party found some success in Uttamrao Patil,with the six-time MP from Yavatmal deciding not to contest as a rebel.
Earlier,Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had said the Congress party would take disciplinary action within two days against Deshmukh and other rebels like him who were contesting against the official Congress-NCP candidates. Chavan told reporters that efforts were made by leaders from both the parties over the past few days to convince rebels to withdraw from the fray. He said that while some of them had withdrawn,others,like Deshmukh had stayed put.
Commenting on the speculation that the Congress was encouraging the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the assembly elections to eat into the Shiv Sena votes,he said,We have nothing to do with the MNS. The Shiv Sena and the MNS are two sides of the same coin.
On the other hand,Arun Nawle of the Shiv Sena threw a surprise by deciding not to withdraw in favour of rebel Nilkanth Kude in Rajura (Chandrapur) though he had earlier agreed on this with Uddhav Thakre.
Among the other prominent rebels to stay in the fray are former Congress MP Anantrao Deshmukh (Risod,Washim),sitting MLA Prakash Bharsakale (Akot,Akola) a Rane supporter who had joined Congress along with Chimur MLA Vijay Wadettiwar,former Congress MLA Naresh Thakre (Morshi,Amravati),former BJP MLA Mohan Mate and former NCP legislator Ashok Dhawad in Nagpur South.
In Nagpur,prominent Shiv Sena leader Shekhar Sawarbandhe withdrew in favour of official nominee Kishore Kumeria after being persuaded by party chief Uddhav Thackeray. BJP had some success with rebel Girish Vyas withdrawing from Central Nagpur.
Naresh Gawande and Tanaji Wanve of the Congress withdrew in favour of former minister Satish Chaturvedi in Nagpur East while Bijju Pande withdrew in favour of official nominee Raju Deoghare in Nagpur Central.
