Nagpur: Its all in the name. More so in election time. A candidate, Anil Deshmukh, has filed his nomination papers from Katol seat in Nagpur district.
Apparently this Anil Deshmukh has jumped into fray claiming to be an official nominee of National Congress Party (Ajit Pawar). His candidature is bound to create confusion among voters since former home minister and senior leader of the NCP (SP), Anil Deshmukh, is the sitting MLA from Katol and that name carries weight there. He is popularly known as Anilbabu.
Anilbabu who faced allegations of extortion when in office as minister spent 14 months in jail though charges against him were not proved. Anilbabu though got nomination from his party (NCP -SP) from the seat, decided at the last minute to field his son Salil Deshmukh from Katol this time and managed to convince his party for the replacement.
On the last day for nominations, Salil dis file his papers But now this namesake Anil Deshmukh may create some problems as many of loyal gullible voters Unaware that Anilbabu is not contesting may press the button of this other Anil Deshmukh.
“This is an unexpected trouble. This fellow filed his nomination papers surreptitiously. We did file objections as his name does not figure in the official list of candidates of the NCP (AP) group“ said Ujwal Bhoyar, Salil Deshmukh’ s personal assistant Bhoyar claimed that there were several discrepancies in the documents filed by the namesake Anil Deshmukh.
But Returning Officer Piyush Chivande refused to entertain the objections raised by Salil Deshmukh. Reliable sources said Salil was caught unawares and failed to move objection/appeal before the 3 pm deadline on Wednesday. As a result the application of the other Anil Deshmukh was cleared in scrutiny process.
Already facing a serious challenge form BJP’s Charan Singh Thakur, Salil Deshmukh could have done without this name game being played by NCP (Ajit) group. This new Anil Deahmukh is not exactly a unknown entity in the area. He is up- sarpanch of Fugaon Nipani village in Narkhed tehsil which is part of Katol assembly constituency.
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Bhoyarvalao revealed that the person was once a loyal party worker of Anilbabu. Salil who is making an electoral debut also has to fend with a Congress rebel Yajnavalkya Jichkar. A youth leader of the Congress he is son of former finance minister the late Dr Shrikant Jichkar who got fame as most educated politician in the country with dozens of degrees and qualifications ofI IPS as well as IAS. He died in a road accident about two decades ago.