Mumbai: A defeat in Sangli municipal corporation elections has raised serious questions on the ‘attitude of alliance’ between Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 41 corporation seats whereas Congress and NCP alliance won only 35 seats.

Further, both Congress and NCP challenged each other in a ‘friendly fight’ for five seats. Out of these five, they lost three. Out of the 78 seats in Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad municipal corporation, Congress and NCP could form an alliance for just 73.

In ward number five in Miraj, Congress and NCP contested against each other for two seats. Congress won both the seats here. In ward number 13, named as Sangliwadi, the alliance partners fought for three seats against each other and lost all three to BJP.

“We should see the winning ability of the party and not the numbers of seats we would like to contest. We lost three seats in ‘friendly battles’,” tweeted Congress chief spokesperson Sachin Sawant.