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BACK OFF, GILLY

WASHINGTON — A group of Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s supporters yesterday called for a halt to efforts to force the Manhattan lawmaker out of a primary contest against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

In a letter to Gillibrand, dozens of New York Democratic activists and donors called on the upstate lawmaker, who replaced Hillary Rodham Clinton, to focus on her own campaign — rather than let her allies try to clear the field for her.

“Instead of your seeking to avoid facing the voters in a primary, we call on you to embrace this opportunity to explain your positions on issues, talk about what you have done, outline your vision for the future and involve voters in the process,” the letter reads.

“New York is one of the most richly diverse states in the union — our voters deserve the chance to choose between two candidates with clearly different records, different stands and different visions for the future of our state,” it adds.

Liz Abzug, who signed the letter along with 60 others, said she was “disgusted” by a letter sent to Maloney earlier this month from a group of Democratic women calling on her to abandon the race to avoid a divisive primary next year.

“The rationale is ass-backwards. It’s anti-woman . . . We should be happy that we have two women running for this seat,” said Abzug, whose mother, Bella Abzug, was a leader in the women’s rights movement.

Abzug said yesterday that Democratic efforts to push Maloney out — which reportedly have come from the White House, Sen. Charles Schumer and others — show that “politics has lost a lot of principle.”

Gillibrand spokesman Matt Canter noted yesterday that his office was not involved in any efforts to get Maloney to drop out.

Gillibrand “is focused on doing her job, and whether or not there is a primary is simply not up to her,” Canter said.

daphne.retter@nypost.com