A total of six candidates were today elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra after Congress leader Kanaihyalal Gidwani withdrew his nomination following diktats from the party that no rebellion would be tolerated.
The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha will be held on June 17.
Those elected unopposed are Vijay Darda and Avinash Pande of the Congress, Tariq Anwar and Ishwar Jain from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Piyush Goyal (Bharatiya Janata Party) and Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena).
For NCP, the election of its candidates led to more jubilation as the party is celebrating its 11th anniversary today.
The mood in the Congress camp was tense till noon as Gidwani was reluctant to withdraw his nomination. However, the party high command sent out a strong message to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and state party chief Manikrao Thakre that the party would not tolerate any rebellion.
The NCP, which was short of 11 votes for the election of its second candidate, arranged a talk between its leader and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and the Congress president’s political advisor, Ahmed Patel, for Gidwani’s withdrawal.
A Congress minister, who did not want to be quoted, told Business Standard: “Gidwani has not been assured candidature next time. He was simply asked to follow the party line.”
The minister, however, noted that had Gidwani stuck to his stand he would have attracted suspension from the party. Thakre had announced on Wednesday that the party would take disciplinary action if Gidwani failed to withdraw his nomination.
