Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which does not have a candidate in Nagpur South-West due to the withdrawal of nomination by its candidate
Vikram Pankule, has now decided to support an independent candidate, district president Nagorao Jaikar said on Friday. This constituency is the only one in Maharashtra where BSP does not have a candidate.
Jaikar said that BSP has a 15,000 strong voter base in the constituency and that it would not disappoint them. "We have taken an in principle decision to support an independent and identified four candidates. In two to three days we will finalise the candidate and announce his name."
Slamming Pankule, Jaikar said that by betraying the BSP, the former had dug his political grave. "No political party will trust him anymore. Anyway he was an outsider and sought a ticket at the last moment. Now we have learnt a lesson and will not entertain such people in future," said Jaikar.
Meanwhile, NCP youth wing city president Pankule defended his decision said that he had sought the BSP ticket at the heat of the moment as NCP had not been given any seat by the Congress. "However, I received telephone calls from party president Sharad Pawar, state president R R Patil and nationalist youth congress president Mahesh Tapase asking me to withdraw. MP Vilas Muttemwar also urged me to withdraw. I decided that when my party bosses did not want me to contest I must change my decision," he claimed.