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This is an archive article published on February 21, 2012
Sena-BJP blame game begins
The saffron alliance partners are at loggerheads with each blaming the other for their defeat in the municipal elections here.
Written by AADITI JATHAR LAKADE
Pune | February 21, 2012 02:41 AM IST
2 min read
2 min read
The saffron alliance partners are at loggerheads with each blaming the other for their defeat in the municipal elections here. While the Shiv Sena had blamed ally BJP for losing six seats as compared to last year,BJP city unit chief Vikas Mathkari in turn blames the Sena and its MLC Neelam Gorhe for breach of seat-sharing agreement.
Mathkari cited three panels where the Sena allegedly breached the seat-sharing agreement and fielded candidates against the official candidate of Sena-BJP-RPI alliance. In panel 27,Dr Sandip Buatala was the official candidate of our alliance. But Sena fielded Dilip Umbarkar,its rebel. Ultimately,Congress candidate Ramchandra Kadam won. The same thing happened in panels 27 and 72, Mathkari said. This is Gorhes mistake…but despite that,BJP managed to win two seats more than it did in 2007, he added.
On the other hand,Sena won 15 seats in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) polls as compared to 21 in 2007. In several panels,the alliance lost where the BJP had fielded both candidates. They said they had tried to reason with the BJP during seat-sharing talks that fielding a candidate from each party in a panel would increase victory prospects, said Neelam Gorhe,Shiv Sena city coordinator and MLC.
Gorhe said from day one of negotiations with the BJP,they had been saying that of the two candidates in each panel,one should be from each party to garner full support from workers of both the parties. It is visible from results that the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI alliance has been hit the most in wards where both candidates were from BJP. Even we have fielded both candidates in the panel at a few places. So far,we have a list of eight wards where BJP fielded two candidates and lost to other parties,especially the MNS.
Mathkari said it was unfortunate that Gorhe was making its ally a scapegoat,especially when the seat-sharing had taken place with her consent.
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