Congress sets eyes on chairman’s post

This will be the first standing committee elections after the NCP and Congress joined hands in the civic body post the collapse of Pune pattern — an alliance of NCP,Shiv Sena and BJP.

As per the power-sharing formula,the NCP and Shiv Sena,along with BJP,had distributed the position of chairman of various committees among themselves. NCP leader Bapu Pathare held the post of standing committee chairman in the first year and Shiv Sena leader Shyam Deshpande took over from him in the second year. In the third year,the NCP again managed to get its member,Nilesh Nikam,to head the standing committee.

Said Congress leader Ulhas Bagul,“the power equation in the civic body has changed and the NCP should now enable the Congress to head the standing committee.”

While in alliance,the NCP had supported Sena man to head the committee. So,the Congress should also get the opportunity as an alliance partner,he said.

Meanwhile,the NCP said that they will follow the directions of their leader. “We have no problem in getting a Congress leader elected to the post of chairman. We will follow the directions of the party seniors,” an NCP leader said.

The NCP and Congress were at loggerheads in the beginning with the NCP joining hands with the Shiv Sena and BJP. However,the alliance came to an end just before the Assembly polls in October. After the new arrangement,the NCP managed to retain the post of Mayor with its leader Mohansingh Rajpal being elected to the post with the support of Congress and Prassana Jagtap of Congress was elected as the deputy mayor.

Facts & statistics
* In the present standing committee of the 16-member committee,five each are from NCP and Congress,three from BJP,two from Shiv Sena and one from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
* The Congress is all set to demand the post of chairman as part of the power-sharing arrangement with the NCP
* This will be the first standing committee elections after the NCP and Congress joined hands in the civic body post the collapse of Pune pattern — an alliance of NCP,Shiv Sena and BJP