Battle begins for standing committee's chairmanship

It is quite obvious that the next standing committee chairman of the Pune Municipal Corporation will be from the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). However, this time it will be difficult for NCP to push forward its decisions as the Congress has included its two heavyweight senior corporators in the standing committee.

The NCP’s Vishal Tambe filed his nomination form on Friday to contest the election of standing committee chairman after the outgoing chairman Baburao Chandere’s term got over.

Recently, eight new faces were inducted in the standing committee after eight members of the committee lost their seats in the draw procedure despite completing their one year’s tenure.

The NCP nominated city improvement committee chairman Chetan Tupe in the standing committee while the Congress inducted city president Abhay Chhajed and Kamal Vyawahare, both seasoned corporators in the PMC.

While the outgoing chairman Baburao Chandere smoothly managed to push the NCP agenda and maintain his party’s control during his tenure, this year the NCP will have to face an uphill task with Chhajed and Vyawahare in the picture.

However, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hemant Rasane and MNS’s Kishor Shinde filed their nominations for standing committee chairmanship.

Leaving no stone unturned, Tambe filed a total of three nomination forms. In one form the proposer and seconder were Abhay Chhajed and Surekha Kawde respectively.