Pune: In a surprising turn of events, former BJP leader Ramesh Karad, who recently defected to the Nationalist Congress Party, withdrew his nomination from the Osmanabad-Latur-Beed seat for the biennial Legisative Council polls on May 21.
Mr. Karad’s volte-face has taken the NCP by surprise as he had joined the party just five days back expressing unhappiness with the BJP. Mr. Karad, considered to be close to BJP’s Pankaja Munde, had filed his nomination on May 2, the day he joined the NCP.
The NCP was hoping that his defection from the BJP, believed to be orchestrated by Dhananjay Munde (Ms. Munde’s estranged cousin and bitter rival), was a coup and would enhance their chances of bagging Latur seat in the elections to the six local bodies.
Mr. Karad, an influential leader in the Beed-Latur belt, was accompanied by BJP’s Maharashtra unit general secretary Sujitsinh Thakur on Monday afternoon as he rushed to the election office to withdraw his nomination half an hour before expiry of deadline at 3 p.m.
“I have withdrawn my nomination. I will clarify my reasons for doing so in the coming days,” Mr. Karad told reporters in Osmanabad.
NCP leaders, caught napping by Mr. Karad’s ‘ambush withdrawal’, have expressed suspicion that Ms. Munde’s staunchest supporter might have been a ‘Trojan Horse’ after all.
“It appears to be a pre-planned conspiracy. He [Karad] had himself sought a nomination and now he inexplicably takes it back,” said Dhananjay Munde.
Mr. Munde, who put on a brave face, said that the NCP would back Ashok Jagdale’s candidacy for the seat and expressed confidence that BJP would receive a setback on voting day.
The BJP, led by Pankaja Munde, has fielded NCP rebel Suresh Dhas for the Latur-Beed-Osmanabad seat.
Taking a swipe at his former party, Mr. Dhas said the NCP did not have enough candidates to field.
“His [Karad’s] volte-face only lays bare the ineptness of the NCP…the result for this seat is now a foregone conclusion,” he said.
The prestige of the Munde cousins is at stake in the battle for the Latur-Beed-Osmanabad seat.
For now, with Mr. Karad’s withdrawal, Ms. Pankaja Munde seems to have turned the tables on her estranged cousin.
