Goyal withdraws from RS biennial polls

Goyal withdraws from RS biennial polls
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MARCH 18: In a surprise move, industrialist Jawahar Goyal today withdrew his nomination for the March 29 biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, thus paving way for the unopposed election of thespian Dilip Kumar (Congress), Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani (Independent), R S Gavai (RPI), Praful Patel (NCP), Sanjay Nirupam (Shiv Sena) and Bal Apte (BJP) to the Upper House.

The official announcement of election of the six candidates is likely to be made on March 29, according to a senior official.

Goyal said he withdrew his nomination papers following an appeal made by senior leaders of all political parties. ``I have decided to withdraw since I felt that my presence in the contest will result in major political embarrassment to one or the other political party. Secondly, in the larger interest of the country's economy and also for political stability, I have withdrawn my candidature,'' Goyal said.

According to a senior Congress leader, besides Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Goyal was also approached by former chief minister Narayan Rane and BJP leader Gopinath Munde.

The Congress leader said top party functionaries in the State heaved a sigh of relief following Goyal's decision. ``In the last election to the Rajya Sabha, we had witnessed defeat despite the fact that we had sufficient number of votes,'' he said.