NAGPUR - Former state minister Sunil Deshmukh of the Congress will contest the Maharashtra assembly elections against President Pratibha Patil’s son, he announced Tuesday evening after quitting the party in protest against denial of ticket to contest the polls.

“I have worked very hard for this region in the past ten years as a legislator and as a minister. Let the people of the area decide who to elect,” a determined Deshmukh told mediapersons here, shortly after sending his resignation to state party chief Manikrao Thakre.

Deshmukh, a sitting legislator from Amravati constituency, was dropped Wednesday last by the Congress in favour of the president’s son Rajendrasingh Shekhawat amid allegations by him that the party succumbed to the wishes of Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Deshmukh went ahead and filed his nomination as an independent, creating a flutter in the party. Hectic efforts by the state and central leaders over the past week failed to convince him to withdraw from the contest.

Tuesday was the last day of withdrawal of nominations for the Oct 13 elections for the 288-member house.

Even the opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine faces a prominent rebel in Guhagar constituency in the coastal Konkan region.

BJP’s sitting MLA Vinay Natu continued in the fray to the leader of Opposition, Sena’s Ramdas Kadam.

All the major political parties adopted the carrot-and-stick approach towards rebels — with limited success — contesting against official nominees.

All the main parties, the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena and the BJP have been plagued with rebels who feel they have wrongly being denied a ticket for the elections.

The ruling coalition of Congress and NCP is jointly contesting the elections.

State NCP president R.R. Patil, however, breathed easy when a Congress rebel Ajit Ghorpade, who was in fray from Kavthe-Mahankal constituency in western Maharashtra’s Sangli district, withdrew from the battle.

Senior Congress and NCP leaders, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, prevailed upon Ghorpade, a sitting MLA from the seat, to pull out, sources said.

In Navi Mumbai, minister Ganesh Naik’s son Sandeep (NCP) will face a Congress rebel Namdeo Bhagat who remained in the fray.

Similarly, in Aurangabad, Shiv Sena’s former mayor and MP, Pradeep Jaiswal is standing against official nominee Vikas Jain.

All the mainstream parties are confronted by at least a dozen rebels each contesting independents against official candidates.