Gurudas Kamat’s disapproval halts tie-up talks

Talks between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party over the alliance in the BMC elections have come to halt after former city unit chief and MP Gurudas Kamat strongly opposed them.

The Congress has now announced that talks will not resume unless all city MPs and MLAs are heard and the party position is reviewed. Delayed process of talks may paralyse the possibility of the alliance between the two parties, the experts feel.

On Friday, the Congress high command directed CM Prithviraj Chavan to meet Kamat and discuss the issue of alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party. The duo met on Saturday and discussed the details of the ties between the two parties. Kamat claimed that the party strength has increased in the city and there was not need of an alliance. Chavan will meet party MLAs and MPs from city on Sunday to assess the strength.

Chavan also held meetings with the party leaders a day after Kamat wrote a letter to high command opposing the alliance with Nationalist Congress Party.  The party had to postpone its crucial meeting with top NCP leaders on Sunday due to the strong resistance from Kamat and his supporters.  Kamat also expressed his dismay over NCP denying the alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, where it enjoys strong hold.

Kamat wrote to Kripashankar Singh, the party’s city unit chief, to convene a meeting of the office bearers to clear the stand of the party on the alliance.