Sharad Pawar’s NCP, a key constituent in the UPA at the Centre and the Congress’ partner in the DF government heading the state, has ganged up with Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena to snatch the Malvan council from the Congress.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP, a key constituent in the UPA at the Centre and the Congress’ partner in the DF government heading the state, has ganged up with Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena to snatch the Malvan council from the Congress.
Officially, none of the parties has admitted to this; but word is doing the rounds that the NCP has joined hands with the Sena while staking claim to the council just to show the Congress that state industries minister Narayan Rane has ceased to call the shots in the Konkan region.
But this “unofficial alliance”, say experts, is bound to affect the relation between the NCP and the Congress. Leaders from both parties are scheduled to meet some time next week to discuss the division of seats between the two for the municipal corporation elections.
Though the Congress has bagged eight of the 17 seats — the NCP and the Sena have bagged six and two — the party has to forego its natural right to the chairman's post. Both the NCP and the Sena have promised to support independent councillor Mahesh Javkar who has filed a nomination for the post. The election will be held on Monday.
Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister and Sharad Pawar's nephew, has directed his men in Sindhudurg to ensure that Javkar becomes the council chairman.
Javkar, who was with the Congress, recently joined the NCP, following differences with Rane. Also, the Congress denied him a ticket in the council elections and he fought as an independent candidate and won. "Now, Javkar has won and he has applied for the post," MLA Deepak Kesarkar of the NCP said. Kesarkar, according to party sources, is the architect behind the NCP's success in the council elections.
Madhukar Pichad, the NCP’s state unit chief, however, evaded a direct reply. He said he was unaware of the latest developments because everything was happening at the local level.
The sudden bonhomie between the NCP and the Sena has, expectedly, left Congress leaders enraged.
Party spokesperson Mahadev Shelar said there was “nothing new in this”. “The NCP deserted us and joined hands with the saffron parties in Pune, Satara and Badlapur in the past,” he said. “But we have our faith in the voters… they will surely teach them a lesson at the appropriate time."
Some Congress leaders, however, blame Rane and his high-handed tactics for the fallout between them and the NCP. Supporters of Rane went on the rampage just before the council elections and all parties appealed to voters to elect only a non-Congress candidate.
For the Congress, the worries will not end with the council elections. If sources are to believed, the NCP and the Sena will work together to defeat the Congress and Rane even in the zilla parishad polls, slated to be held in February.
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