Maharashtra polls: BJP rebel Gopal Shetty announces withdrawal of nomination
Mumbai (PTI): Senior leader and former MP Gopal Shetty, who had filed nomination as an independent after the BJP denied ticket to him, on Monday announced withdrawal of his candidature from Borivali assembly seat in Mumbai.
The BJP has nominated Sanjay Upadhyay from the Borivali seat for the November 20 state assembly polls.
Monday is the last day for withdrawing nominations.
On Sunday, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde held a meeting with Shetty to persuade him to withdraw his nomination.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Shetty said, "I am withdrawing my nomination today. My objection was to the BJP's style of functioning where decisions were taken without any consultation with party workers like me. The party was consistently nominating candidates for the assembly elections from outside, and it was presumed that it was being carried out with my consultation."
"I was never consulted when candidates were selected for the Borivali assembly segment (in the past). I am a party worker and I always expressed my concerns towards a certain style of decision-making," he said.
Another BJP rebel, Sweekruti Sharma, from Andheri East assembly also announced withdrawal of her nomination.
Shetty's rebellion was seen as a blow to the BJP in its stronghold.
He won the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat by margins of more than four lakh in 2014 and 2019, but was denied a ticket in the 2024 general elections. The seat was won by senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal, who is now Union minister.
Shetty, a veteran of the Mumbai north region, was MLA from Borivali in 2004 and 2009. He was also corporator from the area for several years.
In 2014, Shetty won the Lok Sabha election, and the BJP nominated Vinod Tawde from the Borivali assembly seat, considered one of the safest constituencies for the party.
Tawde was not re-nominated in 2019 and he later became BJP's national general secretary.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
