Congress, NCP seal alliance for Thane civic polls

Mumbai: Overcoming the uncertainty that surrounded the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance, both parties sealed the seat-sharing deal for coming Thane Municipal Elections (TMC) on Saturday. NCP MLA and leader Jitendra Avhad and city chief Anand Patanjape met Congress's Thane in-charge and senior leader Narayan Rane, on Saturday, to clear deadlock over a few seats.

Though both leaders kept mum on the number of seats that will be allotted to each party, they claimed that the alliance has been forged and they will contest the TMC elections together. The alliance between the two parties was in doubt for a while over seats from Kalava-Mumbra region, which has been NCP’s stronghold since almost a decade. This area has a total of 36 seats out of which NCP had won 24 in 2012 TMC elections, while the Congress had won 6. However, this year, the Congress demanded 10 seats, which the NCP’s local leadership differed with.

After the alliance meeting, Mr. Rane said, “We have finalised seat sharing formula with NCP. Certain issues other than seat sharing are pending and I will discuss it with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.” While Mr. Avhad said, “To safeguard secularism and prevent the Sena-BJP from coming to power, both parties have some sacrifices to make.”