MUMBAI: Shiv Sena and NCP have decided to jointly contest the forthcoming local body elections, including the BMC polls. Congress, however, is yet undecided and may contest the BMC polls on its own, reports Sujit Mahamulkar.
The elections are expected to be held between May 2021 and May 2022.
Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Sunday told TOI that the ‘election formula’ has been finalised. “Sena and NCP will contest polls together,” he confirmed.
He also said that they were trying to discuss a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, their partner in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. When told that Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap has already announced that his party will fight the BMC polls on its own, Raut said, “We will discuss the issue with Congress leaders too as the formula that has been decided is that the elections will be contested under the leadership of the party which has a stronghold in a respective local body.”
Sena has strongholds in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Aurangabad and Nashik municipal corporations, NCP in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Congress in Nagpur.
However, a minister, on the condition of anonymity, told TOI, “Sena and NCP want Congress to contest independently in the BMC, to corner BJP. The strategy could be that Sena and NCP would be in power, while Congress would be the largest party in the opposition to defuse BJP.”
Raut further said that the MVA partners will try to contest the local body polls together, wherever possible. “There will not be any friendly fight, but in coordination if decided to contest separately.” Raut said he plans to soon discuss the poll strategy with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP.
NCP spokesperson and minister for skill development Nawab Malik said that MVA’s prime intention will be to keep BJP away from the power. “The MVA strategy will be depending on the party strength in local bodies. Wherever necessary, the three parties will contest together so that BJP should not benefit,” he concurred. On the BMC polls Malik said, “We feel that Sena-NCP-Congress should fight together in BMC.”
The five municipal corporations to go to polls within the next six months are Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur and Kalyan-Dombivli, while 10 others—Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nashik, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur—will hold elections between February and March 2022. The civic polls in Bhiwandi, Malegaon, Latur, Parbhani and Chandrapur will be held in April-May 2022, besides a few municipal councils and zilla parishads.