Cong gives President's son Maharashtra poll ticket

The Congress leadership has given President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra Shehawat for the Amravati Assembly seat in Maharashtra.

Current Member of Legislative Assembly and Minister Sunil Deshmukh seems in no mood to take things lying down. "I have full faith in the Congress leadership. Sonia ji and Rahul Gandhi will do justice to me as my claim (to the seat) is legitimate and judicious," Deshmukh said amid reports that the Congress President has withheld the announcement of party nominees for Amravati, Latur and Solapur seats from where the kin of Congress' satraps are aspirants.

While Patil's son Rajendra alias Raosaheb Shekhawat is seeking party nomination from Amravati, former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's son Amit and Union Energy Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter Praniti want to try their luck from Latur and Solapur respectively. Earlier there were reports that the Congress Election Committee had cleared Rajendra for the seat represented by her husband Devisingh Shekhawat, who is a former mayor

of Amravati.

Meanwhile Deshmukh, Minister of State for Finance, arrived at Amaravati from Delhi on Wednesday and met his supporters. Asked if the minister would file his papers even if denied a Congress ticket, a close aide who did not want to be named said, "the last date for filing papers is September 25... we will see who the party nominates." Certain party leaders have already expressed fear that Deshmukh could turn a rebel if denied a party ticket.

Deshmukh met senior party leaders in Delhi on Tuesday. "There is a steady stream of supporters coming in to meet the minister at his residence," the aide claimed. 51-year Deshmukh has been representing Amravati for the past 10 years, winning in 2004 by over 32,OOO votes after wresting it from the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1999.
       
Deshmukh has claimed that Rajendra Shekhawat has been a resident of Mumbai for over three decades and had even sought ticket from Worli Assembly constituency in the metropolis in 1999.