Division of votes will help us, say BJP, Sena leaders.
The saffron alliance is watching with glee as the tainted city MP, Suresh Kalmadi prepares to take on deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Ajit Pawar in the upcoming civic polls. The city units of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (SS) believe that the Kalmadi-Pawar clash would help them gain ground.
Although Kalmadi remains suspended from the Congress, his supporters in Pune have been getting assurances from him that he would play a major role in both distribution of tickets and campaigning for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections. Congress leaders have told DNA that Kalmadi has instructed them to work for defeating the NCP in the city.
The bad blood between Kalmadi and Pawar has affected the relations between the two parties in Pune. To keep Kalmadi at bay, the NCP had earlier joined hands with the BJP and the Shiv Sena in the PMC. The Pune pattern as it was known, had the major posts in the civic body, like that of mayor, deputy mayor and chairman of the standing committee shared between the two parties.
After the failure of the Pune pattern, the NCP was compelled to join hands with the Congress.
However, the alliance failed as the ties between the Congress and the NCP underwent a severe strain. The NCP ensured defeat of the Congress candidate for the post of chairman of the standing committee and elected Ganesh Bidkar.
Following the face-off between the two parties, the BJP and Shiv Sena are hopeful of gaining ground.
They said Kalmadi would go all out to make inroads into NCP strongholds in the fringe areas of the city. “In all probability Kalmadi would ensure strong candidates in those areas to cut down the votes of the NCP. Instead of winning, this time his agenda is to teach Pawar a lesson,” said a senior BJP leader. This, he pointed out, would divide the traditional votes and help the saffron alliance.
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