Gujarat Congress wants Ahmed Patel to contest from Bharuch LS seat
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Congress unit has requested senior party leader Ahmed Patel to contest the next month's Lok Sabha poll from the state's Bharuch seat.
Patel, currently a Rajya Sabha member, won from Bharuch thrice, in 1977, 1980 and 1984, but lost to BJP's Chandubhai Deshmukh in 1991, after which he did not contest from the seat.
The BJP has never lost the seat since then.
"People want Patel to contest from Bharuch, because they believe this will help the Congress win the seat, and its positive impact will be felt on other seats in Gujarat as well," state party's election in-charge Rajiv Satav said.
"It will be clear in the next two-three days whether he will contest from Bharuch, but we (local unit party workers) have requested him for the same," he said.
Congress state president Amit Chavda said Patel has been like a guide for party workers in the state.
"Whether it is Bharuch, Gujarat, or the country, Ahmed bhai has been a popular leader among people cutting across caste, creed and religious lines. It is but natural that the party workers want him to contest from Bharuch," he said.
He said the wish of local Congress workers and leaders has been conveyed to Satav, who has put it across to the party high command.
The Congress has so far announced its candidates for 13 out of the total 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat.
The decision on candidates for other seats, including Bharuch, is likely to be taken soon, Chavda said.
Polling will be held in a single phase in Gujarat on April 23.
The last date of filing of nominations is April 4.
The BJP won all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
