Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan publicly declared his New Year resolution to usher in greater transparency and accountability in the state administration in 2012.
While politicians make resolutions that are difficult to keep irrespective of the day of the year, that didn’t stop chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from publicly declaring his New Year resolution — to usher in greater transparency and accountability in the state administration in 2012.
Chavan has pledged to steer the Democratic Front government with greater aggression founded on these two aspects which he reckons will help them carve a niche in the fight against political rivals in the coming civic and zilla parishad elections.
However, what cannot be stated publicly is the CM’s implicit resolution to steer the Congress ahead of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the electoral battle after the outstanding performance of its alliance partner in the municipal council elections.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has taken it upon himself to make NCP the number one political party in Maharashtra. Except for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai where they are reconciled to a secondary position, strategies are being worked out to beat the Congress in its own game with an eye on the 2014 assembly elections.
But Congress and NCP strategists believe they have to make the alliance work even as they are fiercely competing with each other. Opposition parties Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have put up a united front even as they are battling to consolidate their individual identities. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray’s resolution and challenges all point to a single mission to romp to victory in the BMC elections. Thackeray said, “The Sena’s very foundation is for the welfare of the people of Maharashtra. Our commitment to public welfare is not restricted to elections. It is round-the-year.” Sensing the battle ahead as crucial, Thackeray has taken a proactive role in ensuring a grand alliance with the BJP and the Republican Party of India (RPI). He is also the architect of Shiv Shakti and Bhim Shakti which the alliance believes will give the ruling Congress and NCP a befitting contest in the civic polls.
The Sena which has held the BMC forte for the last 15 years, is also being pitted against the ambitious Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the BMC. The battle for the 227 wards of the BMC (Mumbai) and an annual budget of over Rs19,000 crore will see Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray vying to bag a sizeable amount of seats. And in political circles it is no secret that Raj’s resolve is to emerge as the “kingmaker” in the BMC elections.
However, MNS’s dream will be a reality only if the Sena, BJP and RPI together manage to outsmart the Congress-NCP alliance in a numbers game in the BMC polls. The RPI( A) chief Ramdas Athavale admitted, “ My New Year resolution is to weaken the Congress and NCP alliance across the state. But the biggest challenge is to ensure that the Congress-NCP does not get anywhere close to the BMC headquarters in the civic polls.”
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