Silence at Cong Bhavan,factfinding meet soon

When counting began,party workers were seen in few numbers at the Congress Bhavan. The main reception hall had about 40-45 workers at about 12 noon when the Congress had gained nine seats,NCP 12,MNS eight and the Sena-BJP alliance nine. Phones were ringing to learn about winners and losers. The initial hope that the numbers would increase as the day passes,dissolved when at one point,Congress numbers remained constant for long and the MNS tally started going up. While deputy mayor Prasanna Jagtap losing the battle was a major jolt,it was followed by the defeat of Virendra Kirad,despite his panel being a traditional NCP-Congress bastion. Kirad was defeated by the Sena candidate.

Among sitting corporators,few won,including Aba Bagul,Deepak Mankar,Abhay Chhajed,Avinash Bagwe. The party had apparently fallen prey to the wrath of the common party workers as the list declared was dominated by relatives and aides of leaders. The ballot box proved many such choices wrong.

“This is a shocking result and the MNS played a decisive role at some places,” said Abhay Chhajed,Congress city unit chief. Commenting on whether the Kalmadi factor played a role in reducing the votes,a party member said,“His absence from the election scene could be a reason.”