Maharashtra: Sambhajiraje Bhosale pulls out of Rajya Sabha poll race

Sambhaji Chhatrapati a descendant of Shivaji Maharaj and prominent Maratha leader pulled out of the race for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls days after he announced that he would contest the election as an independent candidateSpeaking to reporters he claimed that his decision to not contest the election was aimed at preventing horsetrading and accused Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of breaking his promise on providing Shiv Senas support for his second term in the Upper House of ParliamentSambhaji Chhatrapati had announced that he would contest the Rajya Sabha polls as an independent candidate and sought the Senas help but the party insisted that he contest as its official candidate which he did not agree to His announcement of not contesting the Rajya Sabha election comes a day after Sena candidates Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar filed their nomination papersThe former MP said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had given his word of support to me but he later went back on it I am extremely sad about it I am no longer in the race for the Rajya Sabha seat now Six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra will go to polls on June 10 with the opposition BJP having the numbers to get two of its candidates elected Sambhaji Chhatrapati was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 from the Presidents quota and his term ended recently This time as the BJP had less number of MLAs he had approached the NCP and later the Sena for their support The Sena and NCP share power in the state with Congress as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA governmentThe Shiv Sena gave me an offer that if I join the party I will get a ticket for the Rajya Sabha But I have already announced that I will not be a part of any party Hence I did not accept the offer he said My decision to not contest the election is not a retreat This is my pride he claimed Sambhaji Chhatrapati had joined the NCP in 2009 and contested the Lok Sabha elections from Kolhapur but lost the seat to an NCP rebel I was expecting the support of MLAs across the parties for my clean image and my work However I realised one thing later that there could be horsetrading if I contested as an independent candidate To avoid it I have decided not to contest the elections he saidThe last date for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls is May 31 and the scrutiny of papers will take place on June 1 Nominations can be withdrawn till June 3 Results will be announced on the day of the polling on June 10This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever