A day after announcing his withdrawal from the Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency, Congress-backed candidate, Ram Jethmalani, on Saturday backtracked and declared he is still in the fray.

"No one has any authority to withdraw my candidature from the parliamentary election. I remain a contesting candidate," the noted lawyer said in a letter to the returning officer in Lucknow.
 
Copies of the letter were circulated to journalists in Delhi by the Congress.

In London, Jethmalani confirmed he has sent a letter to the returning officer in Lucknow. He also admitted there was family pressure on him to withdraw his candidature.

"In politics sometimes one has to choose between friendship and dignity. My conscience tells me that I should ignore friendship," Jethmalani said apparently referring to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's appeal to him to withdraw from the contest.