‘As mark of respect for Ajit Pawar’: Congress to withdraw Baramati bypoll candidate

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday announced it will withdraw its candidate for the April 23 Baramati by-election, which is being contedted by Maharashtra deputy CM and NCP (SP) chief Sunetra Pawar.Announcing the decision, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, the party’s Maharashtra in-charge, described it as a “mark of respect” for Ajit Pawar.Ajit Pawar, then Maharashtra deputy chief minister and Baramati MLA, died in a plane crash in January. Sunetra Pawar is his wife. “As a mark of respect for him (Ajit Pawar), the Congress will not contest the by-election,” Chennithala told PTI.Thursday was the last day for withdrawal of nominations. Congress candidate Akash More had filed his papers for the bypoll.Top leaders from the ruling Mahayuti as well as the NCP (SP) had been urging the Congress to withdraw its candidate to enable an unopposed election in Baramati. The Congress and NCP (SP) are allies in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, along with the Shiv Sena (UBT).The NCP is part of the ruling Mahayuti, along with the BJP and Shiv Sena.Chennithala’s remarks came after senior NCP (SP) leaders, including party chief Sharad Pawar, MP Supriya Sule, and MLA Rohit Pawar, again urged the Congress not to contest the bypoll.“Congress is a national party, and we cannot direct it to withdraw its candidate. However, the Baramati seat fell vacant due to a tragic accident that took away an efficient leader from Maharashtra… If asked, I would suggest it would be appropriate for Congress to make this bypoll unopposed,” Sharad Pawar told reporters in Baramati.A day earlier, Sunetra Pawar had spoken to Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal, urging him to ensure the Congress' candidate withdrew from the contest.The grand old party had earlier announced it would withdraw only if an FIR was registered to probe Ajit Pawar’s death. Opposition parties have alleged foul play, noting that both NCP factions were nearing a merger at the time — a move that has since been called off.Ajit Pawar had represented the Baramati Assembly constituency eight times.