Cong fields Ashish Deshmukh from S-W

Date :04-Oct-2019

Congress, on Thursday night, released its fourth list of candidates for State Legislative Assembly elections. Of 19 candidates in this list, eight were from Vidarbha. As per the list, Congress has fielded Ashish Deshmukh, former MLA, from Nagpur South-West (S-W), the constituency currently represented by Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister. Congress party took its time to announce the name of candidate from three constituencies namely Nagpur South-West, Kamptee, and Ramtek. Particularly from Nagpur South-West, not many were keen on contesting against Fadnavis, who has consolidated his position on the basis of massive developmental push given to the areas in his constituency.

Congress leaders did not want the constituency to go uncontested. Finally, on Thursday night, it decided to field Ashish Deshmukh from this constituency. Deshmukh had won Legislative Assembly elections held in 2014 from Katol constituency, on ticket of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, later, he quit BJP and joined Congress. In the list released on Thursday, Congress named Suresh Bhoyar from Kamptee and Udaysingh Yadav from Ramtek constituency respectively.

Kamptee is home-constituency of Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Energy Minister and Guardian Minister of Nagpur district. Over the years, Bawankule also has consolidated his position and BJP network in the constituency. As far as Bhoyar is concerned, he is former President of Nagpur Zilla Parishad. Udaysingh Yadav is a relatively new face to Assembly politics from Ramtek constituency. The other candidates from Vidarbha in Congress’ fourth list included; Akola West -- Sajid Khan Mannan Khan Pathan, Amravati -- Sulbha Khodke, Daryapur (SC) -- Balwant Wankhede, Gondia -- Amar Varade, and Chandrapur (SC) -- Mahesh Mendhe.