New Delhi: The Congress managers were happy as party candidates filed nominations on 102 out of 288 assembly seats, the largest within the Maha Vikas Aghadi, but had to deploy senior leaders to convince the rebels ahead of the November 4 withdrawal deadline.
According to party insiders, the Congress is facing rebels, who are contesting as Independents, on around 9 seats as the nominations for all 288 seats closed on October 29. The Shiv Sena-UBT has filed nominations on around 95 seats and NCP-SP on 87 seats.
According to party insiders, over the past two days, the Congress high command deployed senior state leaders including All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and former CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat to talk to the rebels and ensure they withdraw their nominations by November 4.
AICC zone-wise observers including former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Sachin Pilot and others are also involved in the fire-fighting efforts to calm down the rebels, said party insiders.
Gehlot and Pande held talks with leaders of the Konkan region while Pilot and Telangana leader Uttam Reddy held talks with leaders of the Marathwada. Chavan and Thorat are using their influence.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had recently deployed Gehlot, Karnataka minister G Parameshwara as observers for Mumbai and Konkan region while former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Charanjit Singh Channi and former Madhya Pradesh minister Umang Singhar had been given charge of the Vidarbha region.
Former Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singhdeo and Karnataka minister MB Patil are taking care of western Maharashtra while Rajya Sabha MP Syed Nasser Hussain and Telangana minister Anasuya Seethakka are busy with North Maharashtra.
"We gave nomination forms only to those candidates whose names had been announced by the party. Party leaders who filed nominations independently should withdraw their nominations. Everyone should work to ensure the victory of official party candidates," AICC in-charge Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala told ETV Bharat.
Besides rebels, the grand old party is also trying to resolve the issue of a friendly fight with MVA allies on a few seats as the move will only dent opposition votes. These seats could not be finalised as three MVA constituents Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP felt they had a better chance of winning there.
A team of senior Congress leaders is talking to the alliance partners over the five seats Miraj, Sangola, South Solapur, Pandharpur and Paranda that may witness a friendly fight between Congress and Shiv Sena UBT.
"There will be no friendly fight. The MVA is united and will defeat the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP-Shiv Sena Shinde and NCP," said Chennithala.
As the Congress managers got busy, the grand old party shifted the November 4 joint MVA rally in Mumbai to November 6. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, incumbent chief Kharge besides former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar will attend the MVA show of strength.
