Sena-BJP end 'Pune pattern', scrap pact with NCP in civic body

The over two-year-old 'Pune pattern' in which Shiv Sena-BJP alliance shared power with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP in Pune Municipal Corporation, has been scrapped.

"The Pune pattern has been cancelled," Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and state BJP president Nitin Gadkari said in a statement here today.

"This decision has been taken in order to avoid confusion among voters as you can't be fighting Congress-NCP in rural areas and siding with them in urban areas," the statement said.

"The maligning of the NCP's image and that party's readiness to align with Congress has led to the scrapping of the Pune pattern," Thackeray said.

The Sena-BJP alliance would continue in the Pune civic body, the statement said, adding that Sena-BJP members who have been elected to various panels as well as the deputy mayor, who belongs to the Sena would resign from their posts.

There are 144 corporators in the PMC of which 48 belong to NCP, 42 Congress, 21 Shiv Sena and 25 of BJP.