The decks now seem to be clear for triangular contests to the Lok Sabha and all Assembly seats except Bhavani Peth. In the race for the passage to Lok Sabha from Pune, Vitthal Tupe of the NCP is being challenged by Pradeep Rawat of the BJP and Mohan Joshi of the Congress.

Friday was a satisfying day for the BJP which received a shot in the arm when Dharmadhikari announced he was pulling out of the contests to the Lok Sabha seat and the Shivajinagar Assembly seat.

His entry into the BJP follows the announcement by Anna Joshi to campaign for the party man. Anna was denied the ticket at the last minute with the party opting for Rawat.

Dharmadhikari told reporters his decision followed a telephonic conversation with senior party leader L K Advani this morning. Advani apparently said he was all for the issues being raised by Dharmadhikari, one of them being cleansing the political system.

``Advani said solutions to these issues could be found after discussing them independently. Advani also requested me to join the BJP and withdraw from the race. Since I could not turn down a request from such a senior leader, I decided to join the BJP and fight for the issues from the party platform,'' Dharmadhikari said.

Reacting to the development, Pradeep Rawat said he would not like to see it in terms of an electoral gain because Dharmadhikari's entry was bound to strengthen the party's ideological stand on several issues.

Dharmadhikari came into limelight when he resigned from the IAS to work for a clean public life. At the time of the last Lok Sabha elections, he had sought a BJP ticket. On being denied that, he had contested as an independent. More recently, he had taken an active part in the people's movement to return former municipal commissioner Arun Bhatia to the city.

Friday also brought some cheer to the Congress after local party leaders succeeded in persuading rebel candidates to withdraw. City unit president Mohan Joshi, who is also the party LS candidate, mayor Datta Gaikwad, corporator Abhay Chhajed and other party leaders called on disgruntled leaders. Suresh Kalmadi too had telephonic conversations with most rebels.

Congress corporator Rajjak Khan pulled out of the race for the LS and Bhavani Peth Assembly seats after the talks. Anis Sundke, who too had his eyes on Bhavani Peth, also withdrew from the fray. Former deputy mayor Nandu Moze (Bopodi) and former deputy mayor Hiraman Shinde (Parvati) were the others who were brought around.But the leaders failed to convince two corporators, Sadanand Shetty and Ramakant Andekar. Both announced they would contest Bhavani Peth seat.

There was a setback for the Congress when senior leader and former minister Prakash Dhere joined the NCP. Dhere, who called the shots in city politics some years ago, was upset when Congress let Bhavani Peth go to the RPI kitty under the seat-sharing agreement.

Later speaking to newspersons Dhere charged Suresh Kalmadi of being anti-Maratha. The Congress leadership in the State allowed itself to play in the hands of Kalmadi, he said.

A few persons were trying to grab the Congress party using money power, Dhere alleged.

Replying to a question, Dhere stated that his political mentor, senior Congress leader V N Gadgil was appraised about his decision to join NCP, but preferred to remain silent over Gadgil's response. He also predicted an exodus to NCP from Congress in near future.

Former deputy mayor Nandu Moze, transport committee member Pradeep Misal and a few other joined NCP with Dhere.