Enthused by the JD(U)-led grand alliance’s spectacular victory in the Bihar Assembly polls, the Opposition NCP on Monday formally initiated the process of realignment with its senior erstwhile ally, the Congress, to contest the eight State Council seats in the biennial polls from the local self bodies to be held next month.
In a development that comes on the heels of the erstwhile ruling Democratic Front (DF) partners entering into a power-sharing arrangement in the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, the NCP mooted its plan to forge a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, with which it had ruled Maharashtra for 15-long years before it snapped its ties ahead of the October 2014 State Assembly polls.
Addressing a news conference here, Maharashtra NCP President Sunil Tatkare said that his party’s national president Sharad Pawar had given a go-ahead to the state party leaders to forge a pre-poll alliance with the Congress and other like-minded parties to take on the BJP-led saffron alliance government in the state. “We have already held preliminary rounds of talks with the state Congress leader for contesting the eight Council seats from the local self-bodies in the state,” Tatkare said.
The biennial polls to eight State Council seats are being held next month to fill the vacancies to be created by the impending retirement of as many members on January 1, 2016.
Of all the political parties, the Congress has a major stake in the Council polls, given that four of its members — Amrish Patel (Dhule Nandurbar local bodies), Mahadev Mahadik (Kolhapur local bodies), Rajendra Mulak (Nagpur local bodies), Bhai Jagtap (Mumbai municipal corporation) – are completing their term on January 1, 2016.