Congress, NCP woo Shiv Sena
The parties mull joining hands for panchayat polls to counter BJP.
Mumbai: Election scheduled across Maharashtra for the Taluka Panchayat Samiti Chairman on Tuesday is likely to see many cross alliances in a bid to keep the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) out of the power. There are clear indications that the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are trying to bring in Shiv Sena with them at all possible places. Although both Congress’ leaders are maintaining their stand of not having an alliance with a communal party like Sena, they are still going ahead with it by holding ‘local compulsion’ accountable for the ‘required alliance’.
The Congress and the NCP have declared that they will join hands in 283 talukas of 25 districts, where the election will be held. However, in many districts, like Ratnagiri, Ahmednagar, Nasik, Usmanabad, Jalna and Amravati, both Congresses are falling short of a few seats, to cover for which they’ve decided to pitch Sena in. The possibility of the alliance happening is quite evident also because Sena itself is sulking in the state government and is looking for a space to corner BJP.
To return BJPs favours in the post BMC elections, Sena has extended its support to BJP in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipalities where the latter has complete majority. But, BJP needs Sena’s support in minimum eleven zilla parishads (ZP) and almost 35-40 panchayat samiti, where Sena is reluctant to extend hands. Both congresses are trying to explore this rift.
After BJP’s rise in civic, zilla parishad polls, all other parties are feeling cornered. Especially the Congress and NCP, who are now going keen on preventing the BJP from getting deep into their pockets. BJP has won 860 seats in Panchayat Samiti out of 3040, which has almost doubled to its 2012 tally.
While the BJP is on its own in Jalgaon, Latur, Wardha, Chandrapur; Sena depends on itself only in Ratnagiri. BJP will need Sena’s support in Aurangabad, Jalana, Buldana, Solapur, Kolhapur, Sangali, Gadchiroli, Hingoli; while Sena is likely to require BJP’s support in Nasik, Yavatmal.