Congress without Suresh Kalmadi seeks to regain footing

Gearing up for the ensuing elections to local self-government bodies like municipal corporations and zilla parishads, the state Congress will hold a regional convention in Pune on September 26.

Maharashtra pradesh Congress committee (MPCC) president, Manikrao Thakare, and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan would be attending the event. Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde are also likely to be present.

Party sources said the convention for Western Maharashtra and Konkan region would be attended by all Congress members from these local self-government bodies and office-bearers.

In Western Maharashtra, Congress has lost its traditional strong support base to its alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Hence, there would be a strong fight between these two parties for dominance at the grass-roots level.

The Congress had been in power in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for decades before losing power in the 2007 civic election. The alliance of NCP with Shiv Sena-BJP ruled PMC for some time. The coalition was broken before the 2009 assembly election and the NCP formed an alliance with the Congress.

The Congress image suffered a hit in the city after its leader and MP, Suresh Kalmadi, was arrested in April 2011 by the CBI and put in Tihar jail for alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam.

The NCP is in a dominant position in the neighbouring Pimpri Chinchawad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which would also go for election in February 2012. Congress has to fight for its existence in this region.

Zilla parishad elections in each district are also due in early 2012. There would also be polls to elect member of a number of municipal councils in these districts by the end of 2011.

Satara is the home district of chief minister Chavan, while Solapur is the home district of Union energy minister Sushilkumar Shinde. A senior minister in the state cabinet, Patangrao Kadam, is from Sangli district.

Hence, the Congress has a major stake in the region to maintain its base.
Top NCP leaders like Sharad and Ajit Pawar are also from Western Maharashtra and have a very strong support base.