Congress’ Vishwajeet elected unopposed

Congress candidate Vishwajeet Kadam was on Monday elected unopposed to the Maharashtra Assembly from Palus-Kadegaon constituency in Sangli district of western Maharashtra, after BJP’s Sangram Singh Deshmukh and eight other candidates withdrew from the day on the last day of withdrawal of nominations for the May 28 bypolls.

In a development that came four days after the ruling Shiv Sena announced its support to the Congress candidate, the BJP withdrew its candidate Deshmukh from the fray.  Simultaneously, eight other candidates, mostly independents, withdrew their papers, facilitating the unopposed election of Vishwajeet.

The Palus-Kadegaon Assembly by-polls in Sangli district of western Maharashtra had been necessitated by the demise of senior Congress leader Patangrao Kadam, who died of renal dysfunction at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital on March 9 this year. Vishwajeet is the son of late Patangrao Kadam.

The Shiv Sena had put the BJP, its senior ruling alliance partner in the State and at the Centre, in a predicament on Thursday last, when it extended its “active” support to Vishwajeet’s candidature in view of late Congress Minister Patangrao Kadam’s contribution in the education, social and co-operative sectors. The Sena had gone to extent of mocking the BJP for not coming forward to ensure the unopposed election of the Congress candidate.

Unfazed by the Sena’s candidate, the BJP had indirectly tried to bargain with the Congress for withdrawing its candidate from the Assembly by-poll. Maharashtra’s senior State Minister Girish Bapat had said that the BJP would consider withdrawing its nominee from the Assembly by-poll contest, if the Congress extended its support to its candidates in Palghar Lok Sabha by-poll and other Council polls.