The Congress-NCP combine, which had contested the last local bodies elections together, will be fighting separately this time.
The Congress-NCP combine, which had contested the last local bodies elections together, will be fighting separately this time. The NCP has decided to join hands with the Congress only wherever necessary, otherwise the party will contest on its own, said top party leaders.
The Congress-NCP combine had fought the last nagar parishad, nagar panchayat and Lok Sabha elections jointly. However, in the Vidhan Sabha elections, the alliance broke due to differences over seat sharing. After the BJP-Shiv Sena government came to power in the state, NCP and Congress had to rejoin hands for the Vidhan Parishad (legislative council) elections. On this backdrop, it was expected that the two parties would contest local bodies’ elections together.
However, NCP leaders have ruled out the possibility of the parties contesting the polls together. -"Since there is no end to discussions with the Congress, we have decided to end our ties in local bodies' elections. We have asked our local party leaders to ally with the Congress only when the necessity arises. Otherwise we will fight the polls alone,-" said state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare.
According to party leaders, though the BJP-Sena alliance is ruling the state, most of the local bodies are under the control of the NCP and the Congress. Hence, it has been decided to contest the polls separately so that the party can give opportunity to more candidates. “In case of the president polls, we will decide where to contest depending upon our strength,” said a top party leader.
Elections will be held for 212 nagar parishads (municipal councils) and nagar panchayats in the state from November to January. Of them, for the first time, the president of 192 nagar parishads would be elected directly. With the BJP-led state government completing almost two years of its tenure, the polls are being seen as a mid-term referendum for its rule.
