Cong keeps NCP guessing over decision to withdraw nominee

Pune: The deadline ends on Thursday but the Congress has kept the NCP guessing about its decision on withdrawing its candidate from the Baramati bypoll contest.Of the 53 candidates in the fray, six independentswithdrew their nominations on Wednesday.NCP functionaries have contacted the other candidates, requesting them to withdraw. The party's senior leadership continued its efforts, appealing to the Congress to withdraw its candidate to ensure an unopposed win for deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar from the Baramati seat which fell vacant after the death of her husband and then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in plane crash on Jan 28.The efforts by NCP members have not yet yielded positive results so far as the Congress has stuck to its stand.NCP chief Sunetra Pawar, state party president Sunil Tatkare, cabinet minister Hasan Mushrif and Rajya Sabha MP Parth Pawar met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the Baramati bypoll. Though some BJP functionaries claimed that some party seniors were planning to speak to state Congress functionaries to request them to withdraw their candidate from Baramati, the state Congress, on its official X handle, claimed that no BJP functionary has contacted the party with the request.