After taking high moral positioning on corruption, the Congress on Tuesday fielded Adarsh scam tainted former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as its lok Sabha candidate from Nanded in Maharashtra. The party also announced the name of AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistri as the new candidate to take on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from Vadodara.
The party also ended speculation about ludhiana seat and did not re-nominate Union Minister Manish Tewari, who was reluctant to contest the lok Sabha election. Ravneet Singh Vittu, a grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has been fielded from ludhiana.
Since Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi publicly criticised the Congress-NCP Maharashtra Government for rejecting the report of the Adarsh Commission against Ashok Chavan and others in December last, few had believed that the party would compromise his position for a lone seat.
After Rahul’s intervention, the Maharashtra Government had reversed its decision and accepted the report. The enquiry commission had indicted Chavan for extending political patronage to the beneficiaries in the scam. The CBI has already filed a charge-sheet against Chavan, but was denied permission by the State Governor to prosecute him.
The declaration of Chavan’s name capped a day of high drama that saw his wife Ameeta filing her nomination papers from Nanded to keep the seat within the family if her husband was denied a party ticket.
Early this month when Rahul shared a public platform with Chavan at a rally in Aurangabad, he drew flaks from across the party lines. The Congress had defended Rahul by stating Chavan had not been convicted yet, and he cannot be ignored in a rally in his own region.
On being given the party ticket, AICC general secretary Ajay Maken defended the party’s decision by stating that no court or Election Commission has barred Ashok Chavan from contesting polls. When asked about the denial of ticket to CWG tainted and long-time Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi, Maken said: “his (Ashok Chavan) case is different from that of Suresh Kalmadi”.
Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee has been fielded from Hoshiarpur while Santokh Singh Choudhary has been given Jalandhar ticket.
The party also announced Madhusudan Mistri as the new candidate against Modi from Vadodara lok Sabha seat. Mistri’s announcement came after Narendra Rawat, who was elected in the primaries for the same lok Sabha seat, withdrew his name to enable the party to put up a stronger contender against BJP’s PM nominee. Mistri, who is AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, was elated over the opportunity to take on Modi. “I was waiting for this moment for long. I will fight against Modi to defeat him in Vadodara. I am very confident,” he said.
Ever since Modi’s candidature was announced from Vadodara, there was speculation that the Congress will change its candidate. The party had declared that the electoral battle against the BJP’s PM candidate will be fought strongly especially in constituencies which he is contesting.
“Narendra Rawat has retired from the contest following BJP’s announcement to field Modi from Vadodara. He has requested me to convey to the party command regarding the decision,” AICC general secretary in-charge for Gujarat Gurudas Kamat said.