Mayor term extension a face saver for NCP

In a notification last week,the state government extended the term of mayors and deputy mayors saying that the government machinery will be busy with the Assembly polls. The two-and-a-half-year term of mayor and deputy mayor in PMC will be over in September.

Interestingly,the city Congress has been putting pressure on the city unit of the NCP to call off its alliance with the saffron parties in the civic body if they want to jointly contest the Assembly polls. “If the elections for the mayor and deputy mayors had taken place at the scheduled time,then the NCP would have faced problems in continuing with its alliance with the Shiv Sena and the BJP,” a senior Congress leader said.

The city NCP either had to break its alliance with the saffron parties or run the risk of working against the NCP policy in the state that envisages a pact between the Congress-NCP to contest polls jointly,he said. “The elections for mayor and deputy mayor posts at scheduled time would have exposed the NCP’s double standards just before the Assembly elections,” he added.

For the Congress,the decision has come as a setback as its demand for NCP parting ways with the saffron parties will now not yield much response. City Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi had threatened to go it alone in the Assembly polls in the district if the NCP continued its alliance with the Shiv Sena and BJP in the PMC.

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan too had supported the demand of the city Congress on Saturday,saying there has to be a discussion with the NCP on the existing alliance in the PMC. He,however,clarified that any decision on pre-poll alliance with the NCP will be taken only by the party high command.

The NCP had joined hands with the Shiv Sena and BJP after the 2007 civic polls to grab power at the PMC,keeping the Congress in the opposition. The alliance had been facing rough weather due to different stands of the ruling parties on various civic issues,but it had continued so far.

It also had its adverse effect during the recent Lok Sabha polls when the Congress alleged that the city NCP did not support the Congress candidate wholeheartedly. NCP chief Sharad Pawar too had come down heavily on his party cadre in the city for staying away from Kalmadi’s Lok Sabha poll campaign.

For the NCP,the state government decision has come as a respite.

“We were worried on deciding the party stand if the election for the post of mayor and deputy mayor had taken place just before the Assembly polls. Now,we are relieved,” another senior NCP leader said.

City NCP chief Jaideo Gaikwad had also conveyed his sentiment to the party leadership on the political situation in the city with special emphasis on the existing alliance in the civic body. “It was conveyed that the alliance in the PMC was contradictory to the party policy and would have an adverse effect on the Assembly polls in the city,” he said.