Congress surprise: Thakre,Dutt & Ranpise

In a move that surprised even senior ministers from the Congress party in Maharashtra,the names announced by the party High Command to contest the coming polls to the Maharashtra Legislative Council included neither that of outgoing MLC Ulhas Pawar,a close confidant of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh,nor that of a minority community representative.

The three names announced were of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre who gets another term in the Upper House,Pune leader Sharad Ranpise who replaces Pawar and former MLC Sanjay Dutt who had resigned in March 2011 to make way for Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to be elected to the Legislative Council. While party sources said the CM lobbied hard for Dutt’s name to be included,the High Command also reportedly took note of the popular sentiment in the party that a legislator who made a personal sacrifice should not be repeatedly overlooked.

While former CM Vilasrao had reportedly insisted on a record fourth term for Ulhas Pawar,the party chose to give the candidature to Ranpise,after having decided on fielding one SC candidate. A fourth name is expected to be announced on Saturday,the last day for filing nominations.