Triangular contest for mayor8217;s post

PUNE, March 19: A triangular contest for the mayor's post appears inevitable with the BJP-Shiv Sena and Suresh Kalmadi's Maharashtra Vika...

PUNE, March 19: A triangular contest for the mayor8217;s post appears inevitable with the BJP-Shiv Sena and Suresh Kalmadi8217;s Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi failing to reach a consensus till late this evening.

Republican Party of India RPI candidate Avinash Salve has decided to withdraw in favour of Congress candidate Anil Bhosale after a joint meeting of the party leaders. RPI candidate for deputy mayor Sayyed Afsar will also withdraw in favour of Congress nominee Alka Patil. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, Congress nominee for the mayor8217;s post, Madhukar Pawle, is set to win the election. A straight contest is on the cards between Pawle and independent candidate Kumar Jadhav.

The saffron alliance today held a meeting of corporators in the morning to chalk out a strategy for the election. Sena8217;s mayoral candidate Deepak Gawde will withdraw to make way for BJP nominee Vijay Kale while BJP candidate for the deputy mayor Jyotsna Sardeshpande will make place for Sena candidate Mahadeo Babar.

The meeting was attended by guardian minister Pramod Navalkar, Sena leader Shashikant Sutar, Deepak Paigude, Suryakant Lonkar, Chandrakant Amrale, Vijay Tadwalkar and BJP leaders Girish Bapat and Pradeep Ravat.

BJP sources said Kalmadi in a telephonic conservation with BJP leader Pramod Mahajan this morning reportedly told him that he would not give up the post of mayor to the BJP because of pressure from his corporators. Later, local BJP leaders received a message from the state leadership to contest the election. The BJP-Sena leaders were planning on another meeting with Kalmadi in the night.

Meanwhile, the corporators did not rule out possibility of cross-voting following some resentment over the three candidates. Moreover, no party was in a position to win the election on its own strength. The MVA corporators have holed up in a prominent hotel on Jungli Maharaj Road while Congress corporators are camping in another hotel on Fergusson College Road. A group of 20 MVA corporators have gone to Mahabaleshwar. Kalmadi today called on corporators who had left Congress with him but later rejoined the Congress to support him.

The civic corridors presented a political situation. Speculation was rife that Sena corporators would vote for BJP candidate Vijay Kale in the first round and vote for Kalmadi8217;s candidate in the second round. Some corporators was exploring the possibility of a Congress and BJP alliance to teach Kalmadi a lesson.

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In the house out 124, the strength of parties is MVA-41, Congress 38, BJP-20, Shiv Sena-15, RPI- 7,Janata Dal-1, Independent-1 and Patit Pawan Sanghatana -1. One MVA corporator has announced his decision to cooperate with Congress.

In Pimpri- Chinchwad, the opposition, in a minority, is keen on not allowing Pawle to get elected unopposed.

Congress nominee Murlidhar Dhage and BJP corporator Uma Khapre are vying for the post of the deputy mayor. The opposition will be making a strong demand for alloting the post of the deputy mayor to Khapre, on the condition that they would allow Pawle to get elected unopposed.