The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are set to welcome non-Marathi leaders as their mayors. The NCP,the single largest party in both civic bodies,has announced Mohansingh Rajpal and Yogesh Behl as its mayoral candidates for the two civic bodies. The election to the post of mayor and deputy mayor,scheduled to be held on December 1,will also mark the end of NCPs alliance with saffron combine called the Pune Pattern. In the PMC,the NCP has joined hands with Congress to share power in the civic body. The NCP-Congress combine on Friday proposed the name of Rajpal for the post of mayor and that of Prasanna Jagtap of Congress for deputy mayor. Rajpal is serving his second term as corporator and represents Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalya ward in Rasta Peth while Jagtap was elected from Anandnagar-Hingane ward on Sinhagad Road. As per power sharing agreement,the NCP will hold the post of mayor,chairman of city improvement committee and legal committee while the Congress will get the post of deputy mayor,standing committee chairman and president of PMC education board. The nomination of Rajpal,a non-Marathi Puneite,for the post of mayor could only be done by the NCP, said outgoing mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale. Congress leader Ulhas Bagul said the Pune Pattern has come to an end and the Congress-NCP will share power for the next two-and-a-half years. However,the NCP and Congress have decided to keep this arrangement going only for one year. The choice of Rajpal by NCP and Jagtap by the Congress shows that committed party workers get their due, he said. The saffron combine has nominated Vishnu Harihar of BJP and Deepak Gawade of Shiv Sena as their candidates for the post of mayor and deputy mayor. Harihar represents Mahatma Phule Smarak ward while Gawade is from Janta Vasahat ward. Meanwhile,in Pimpri-Chinchwad,there is no such sharing required as NCP has absolute majority,with 70 out of 105 corporators. Four-time corporator Yogesh Behl and Daboo Aswani of the NCP filed their nominations for the post of mayor and deputy mayor on Friday. Like in the case of Pune,the tenure of the incumbents may last only for one year,it is learnt. Behl and Mahesh Landge were the main contenders for the post from NCP. Ajit Pawar had declared last week that he would decide the mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad and said that there was no room for factionalism in the party. Some corporators tried to raise the issue of the post going to a non-Marathi,but Pawar decided in favour of Behl. The other contenders for the posts are Mauli Jadhav from BJP for the post of mayor and Prakash Babar from the Shiv Sena for deputy mayor.
