President Pratibha Patil's son in elections

Mumbai: It's a controversial decision. Rajendra Shekhawat, whose mother is the president of the country, is standing for elections in Maharashtra.

Shekhawat, a political novice, has been given the Amravati seat in Vidarbha; his only claim over it: that  his father and mother  have represented Amravati in the distant past, as MLA and MP respectively.

Shekhawat, popularly known as Raosaheb, is the Congress candidate from Amravati, which was once represented by his mother, Pratibha Patil. This is the first time in the recent past that a son of a Constitutional head of the country will contest elections.

It took a lot of persuasion by the Congress to get party leader Sunil Deshmukh to vacate the Amravati seat for Shekhawat. Deshmukh has been the MLA from this constituency for 10 years, but  has now been asked to contest the elections from nearby Achalpur. However, Deshmukh has reportedly warned that he will revolt against the Congress.

The winner in the past two elections from Amravati, Sunil Deshmukh , a senior Congress minister, has threatened to revolt.

And the opposition  BJP has questioned the propriety of giving a ticket to the son of an apolitical, constitutional figure like the President.

Barring one exception - VV Giri-  no child of a President has fought an election when their parent is still holding that high office.

But one of the compulsions for the Congress: that if they had refused Shekhawat,  they would have had to also turn down a dozen  leaders who want seats for their children.