Congress rebel candidate Rajendra Mulak filed nomination as an independent from Ramtek seat, a huge crowd of supporters gathered.

Nagpur: Nagpur District (Rural) Congress President Rajendra Mulak has filed his nomination papers from Ramtek seat of Nagpur district on Tuesday, the last day of nomination. He challenged the party by contesting against the official Sena UBT candidate Vishal Barbete.

Mulak is a disciple of former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and is also his relative. Mulak comes from a prominent Congress family in the city. His father Bhau Mulak was an MLA and minister in the 70s. Rajendra also has family ties with another elite politician of the area, Datta Meghe.

Rajendra Mulak was the Minister of State in the Prithviraj Chavan ministry and held the portfolios of Finance and Energy.

A dynamic and committed Congress leader, Rajendra Mulak earlier contested from Umred Assembly constituency, but after delimitation in 2009 the seat has remained only for Scheduled Caste candidates, which is out of bounds for Mulak, who is a Kunbi Maratha. .

Since then he has been working for the party organisation, especially Nagpur District Rural, which consists of six assembly seats of Unred, Kempty, Savner, Hingna, Ramtek and Katol.

Rebel Congress candidate Rajendra Mulak garnered strong support while filing his nomination as an independent from Ramtek for Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024. file photo

Mulak has been holding the charge of Ramtek constituency for the last few years. But he was again disappointed as Congress failed to convince the Sena (UBT) to give up claim on the seat. Last week, Mulak along with senior sitting MLA Sunil Kedar met Uddhav Thackeray and convinced him to leave Ramtek. But instead Thackeray offered Mulak to contest as Sena UBT candidate which was not acceptable to Mulak.

On Tuesday, Mulak displayed his tremendous strength when he defied the party order and filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from Ramtek. Kedar who has influence and some BJP leaders may also help him get elected against Sena UBT candidate Barbate, who is a debutant who has a major car dealership in Nagpur but is considered a weak candidate.