MNS on Thursday helped chief minister Ashok Chavan to pull off a grand victory for three candidates of the Congress, three of the NCP, and one independent in the state council elections.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Thursday helped chief minister Ashok Chavan to pull off a grand victory for three candidates of the Congress, three of the NCP, and one independent in the state council elections.
The underlying message was loud and clear — the Congress and the NCP have a covert political understanding with the MNS. All three parties want to ensure the defeat of the common enemy, the Shiv Sena. Also, it shows that Raj Thackeray cannot be written off when it comes to state politics.
The MNS with its 13 votes backed the Congress (six votes) and NCP (seven votes), helping the ruling coalition to ensure that all its seven candidates, including an independent, Vijay Sawant, won the elections. The win also brought to the fore Chavan’s political prowess — he dared to field an independent candidate who won by defeating the Sena’s Anil Parab.
The MNS, too, gained in the process. The Congress-NCP combine has decided to revoke the suspension order against four MNS members in the upcoming monsoon session. “Our party chief told all 13 members where to cast their votes,” MNS leader in the state assembly Bala Nandgaonkar said. Without naming the Congress or the NCP, he said, “We are keeping in mind the party’s interests.”
The parties kept a tab on all the independents till the last minute of polling. The chief minister was at Vidhan Bhavan till the last vote was cast.
The victory of the three Congress candidates — Hussain Dalwai, Sanjay Dutt and Dipti Chaudhury — was on expected lines. But Sawant, who polled 13 votes in the first round, left many in the Congress worried. He, however, managed to cross the magic mark of 27 votes in the second round of polling, clearly steering ahead of Shobha Fadnavis (BJP) and Anil Parab (Sena).
“We had calculated 32 votes for each of our official candidates,” a Congress leader said. “We had 108 votes. We knew Sawant would be short of 14 votes and he would require second preference votes, which were in abundance.”
At the end of the day, Chavan was relieved. “I am glad all Congress-NCP candidates won.” He, however, denied that he had approached the MNS.
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