Sunil Deshmukh, who has been elected from there twice in 1999 and 2004, said he would contest the polls from Amaravati as an independent.

However, the Congress had played down Deshmukh's rebel threat.

Party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan Thursday said: 'During election time, there is certain amount of unhappiness among those who are denied tickets. The real Congressmen will not rebel against official candidates.'