Both NCPs join hands in Pimpri, Sharad Pawar’s party dumps MVA
MVA says Plan B already place, NCP(SP) exit good riddance.
Ajit Pawar said the alliance partners will withdraw the nomination of their candidates if there is more than one candidate for the same seat, so that there is no division of votes. (File Photo) NCP chief Ajit Pawar on Sunday announced that his party will contest the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation polls with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP).
While launching the party’s election campaign at Talewade in Pimpri-Chinchwad today, Ajit Pawar said,”In Pimpri-Chinchwad, both the NCPs will contest the elections together. Our family is again coming together. This was in the minds of several people. For the all-round development of Maharashtra, we need to take certain steps.”
Stating that the seat-sharing talks are underway for Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pawar said, ”Wait for two days. You will come to know about it.”
The NCP’s rival in Pimpri-Chinchwad is BJP, which is its alliance partner at the state-level.
Pawar said their aim is to capture the PCMC. “All party workers and leaders should put in their best to win the PCMC elections. We have to restore the old glory of Pimpri-Chinchwad,” he said.
Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, however, said their Plan B was already in place and termed NCP (SP) exit as “good riddance”.
For the Pune Municipal Corporation polls, a day after their talks for an alliance collapsed, the NCP and NCP(SP) again started a dialogue on Sunday.
When contacted, NCP (SP) spokesperson Ankush Kakade said, ”Our talks (with NCP) are underway. We will let you know who we are aligning with soon.”
While the two NCPs have come together for PCMC polls, in Pune city, MVA said the development vis-a-vis the exit of NCP (SP) from its fold has not rattled them as they were expecting something of this sort to come up.
“Leaders of NCP (SP) yesterday left mid-way through the meeting. Even today, they did not turn up for the seat-sharing discussion,” Sanjay More, president of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Pune , told The Indian Express Sunday.
”We knew it was coming in view of their ongoing discussions between the two parties. It is not a setback for us. I think it is good that they left as more Congress and Sena aspirants will get to contest the elections. Even otherwise, the civic elections are meant for the ‘karyakartas,” More said.
The Sena (UBT) said they are keen to take Raj Thackeray-led MNS with the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
”If the MVA is not ready to take MNS, we will then allot some of the seats given to us by MVA,” More said.
Besides MNS, More said they are also trying to accommodate Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi with whom the Congress has tied up with for the BMC polls. ”VBA and other smaller parties will also be part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Ramesh Iyer said,”The MVA already has Plan B ready ….The Congress and Uddhav Sena will fight together by taking along VBA and other parties.”
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