Congress had 'agreed' to support Bajaj's RS bid

The Congress would have supported industrialist Rahul Bajaj in his bid for election to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, had he contacted party president Sonia Gandhi three days earlier.

The newly elected MP said in a programme on CNN-IBN channel on Sunday that he had asked Gandhi for Congress party's support.

"She said, Rahulji if this had come to me three days (earlier)... I got the impression from her and Ahmed Patel (her political secretary) that three days ago we would have supported you," Bajaj told the channel, which released extracts of his interview today.

Bajaj dismissed suggestions about the possibility of any rupture in his relationship with the Nehru-Gandhi family, which goes back three generations. "If our relationship of 70 years can be spoilt by such an action then that relationship is not worth having," said Bajaj.

The eminent industrialist had contested as an Independent candidate with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the BJP-Shiv Sena combine backing him.

Even though his victory was a foregone conclusion, the Congress had decided to field its own candidate, Avinash Pandey.