Mumbai: Hours before the deadline for withdrawal of nominations for the Andheri East Assembly by-polls ended, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced on Monday that the BJP shall pull out its candidate from the fray. Bawankule's announcement of withdrawal came after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray had on Sunday written to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asking the ruling party to pull out from the bypoll arena, considering the untimely demise of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.
"The BJP has decided not to contest the Andheri East bypoll, Bawankule told reporters in Nagpur. We could have otherwise won the election," Bawankule said while speaking to a group of reporters on Monday. He further said that the stance taken by Raj Thackeray and Sharad Pawar is part of the culture. "We would have won this election 100 percent. But since the MLA passed away, not putting up a tough front in such a situation is the culture of Maharashtra," he said. BJP's Murji Patel, who withdrew his nomination papers on Monday, was pitted against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction's candidate Rutuja Latke, the wife of late Ramesh Latke.
Other than Raj Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had also appealed to all parties to ensure that Rutuja Latke was elected unopposed. Reacting to the announcement, Rutuja Latke expressed gratitude and said she was indebted to everyone who worked to make this election an uncontested battle. She further thanked Raj Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction's Pratap Sarnaik for stepping forward and appealing to the BJP to withdraw the nominations against her. Latke also informed the reporters that she shall be discussing the further course of action with her leader Uddhav Thackeray.