NCP’s ex-BJP candidate withdraws

Mumbai: NCP on Monday suffered a major setback in terms of the upcoming Latur Legislative Council elections, when its candidate Ramesh Karad withdrew his candidature on his own. Mr Karad had joined the party by ditching BJP just a few days ago. His decision caught the NCP unawares, apart from being a major embarrassment for the party. The NCP is now supporting Ashok Jagdale, an independent candidate, for the election.

Elections for six seats in the state Legislative Council are underway. As per the Congress-NCP seat-sharing formula, Latur is with the NCP. Mr Karad switched to NCP just six days ago in the presence of Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde, and the NCP gave him the ticket instead of Mr Jagdale, a party loyalist who had been demanding a ticket for a long time. In the afternoon on Monday however, Mr Karad, along with BJP MLC Sujitsing Thakur, went to the returning officer and withdrew his candidature. Mr Munde, too, came to know about the development after news channels started flashing it. An embarrassed NCP then gave the ticket to Mr Jagdale.

Mr Munde said, “I won’t say it was a shock. Withdrawal of candidature is not a shock. The result will be a real shock for everyone. This is now an election of prestige. I will see to it that Mr Jagdale wins comfortably.”