Noted industrialist Rahul Bajaj's candidature for the June 15 Rajya Sabha byelection has led to fissure in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition with Congress on Monday announcing fielding of Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Avinash Pandey as its nominee.
Bajaj's candidature has come as a surprise for the Congress as it is backed by Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena as also by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which had earlier declared it would not support a Congress nominee and accused it sabotaging the recent Legislative Council election leading to the defeat of one NCP candidate.
Caught in a catch 22 situation, Congress announced the nomination of Pandey, who will be filing nominations later in the day, despite knowing that he would not have a ghost of a chance if the BJP-Shiv Sena and NCP backed Bajaj in the Rajya Sabha polls due to the death of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.
Announcement of Pandey's candidature comes apparently after efforts to pursuade Pawar to support the Congress failed.
NCP has been off-and-on accusing the Congress of not giving a fair deal to its allies.
Bajaj is a close friend of Pawar and has a good rapport with leaders of the BJP as also Shiv Sena.
The development has come close on the heels of the Legislative Council elections, which saw strained relations between Congress and the NCP as all the four Congress candidates got elected.
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