With clear majority out of sight in Pune Municipal Corporation, parties go to the drawing board.
With the chance of any one political party getting an absolute majority in the Pune Municipal Corporation appearing diminished, political leaders have begun working on the different permutation and combination to employ in order to grab power.
While Congress leader, Ulhas alias Aba Bagul, who expects the party to bag 50-52 seats, said the aim would be a coalition with the NCP “and get the mayoral post for ourselves”, a more cautious NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakade refrained from predicting the number of seats until the area-wise voting percentage was analysed. “However, it is certain that the next mayor will be from the NCP. Decision about coalition will be taken by Ajit Pawar in due time,” said Kakade.
Top NCP and Congress leaders, who were found busy criticising each other bitterly during the entire campaigning, especially Sharad Pawar and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan respectively, have already declared a post-poll alliance if the need arose.
Confident of a saffron win, Shiv Sena leader Nilam Gorhe said, “While I can’t predict the number of seats, an absolute win will ensure that the question of seeking the help or support of any other party won’t arise.” City BJP chief Vikas Mathkari exuded similar confidence about the BJP-Sena-RPI grand alliance doing the trick.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader, Ranjit Shirole, said, “MNS will play a decisive role in electing the next mayor of Pune. We are slated to get more than 30 seats.”
Observers feel that as the NCP has been enjoying power in the civic body by joining hands with other parties, it may lose some seats due to anti-incumbency effect. While the arrest of MP Suresh Kalmadi in the Commonwealth Games scam threatens to hurt the Congress vote share, intra-party groupism and rebellion may prove costly for both the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Overall, the situation may boost the MNS’s vote share, which is seeing a consistent rise.
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