Raj gains,Mumbai doesn’t buy Congress promise of change

The good news for the Congress and NCP — who had contested separately at six of the 10 corporations — was that they held on to power in five corporations.

The two parties were also running neck and neck in the zilla parishad elections held on February 7 — of the 1,548 ZP seats for which results were announced,the NCP won 494 and the Congress 424. The Shiv Sena was a distant third with 246 seats,and the BJP won 190 seats.

The one corporation that did not indicate a clear winner was Nashik,where Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena emerged as the largest party. The MNS also turned in a powerful performance at the BMC,growing to 29 corporators from the seven it had in 2007.

The Congress-NCP debacle in Mumbai overshadowed the parties’ better performance elsewhere. They were contesting the Mumbai civic elections in alliance for the first time,and had expected to at least make the Sena-BJP sweat in the face of anti-incumbency,if not end the 16-year saffron control of BMC.

However,from 76 seats in 2007,the Congress ended with just 50 seats on Friday,a complete negation of CM Chavan’s theory that a pre-poll alliance with the NCP would ensure consolidation of votes against the “communal” parties.

“We expected to score a victory,but people have thought otherwise,” Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh said. “We will now accept the role of a being constructive opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. We will continue to work towards making Mumbai a world class city.”

The BJP,almost written off until Friday by even its alliance partner,improved upon its 2007 tally by three seats.

In the bitterly fought polls to the Pune Municipal Corporation,the NCP emerged as the single largest party,while the Congress was relegated to the third spot. The Ajit Pawar-led party swept to power in the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation,securing 83 of the 128 wards.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-RPI alliance,which was hoping to win the PMC for the first time,was way behind the combined tally of the NCP and Congress. While Pimpri-Chinchwad mayor Yogesh Behl,right hand man of Ajit Pawar,won by a solid margin of 2,000 votes,Pune mayor Rajpal Singh,also of the NCP,lost by 3,000 votes.

In union minister and Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde’s bastion of Solapur,the Congress emerged as the single largest party,winning 45 wards. The NCP came second,winning 16. The BJP won 25 wards,and the Sena 8.

In BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s hometown of Nagpur,the BJP-Sena combine looked set to repeat its 2007 performance and retain power. Of the 116 results available in the evening,the BJP-Sena had won 54 (49 BJP,5 SS) in the 145-member house. The Congress-NCP combine lagged behind with only 33 seats (Cong 30,NCP 3).

The saffron combine fared badly in Amravati but did well in Akola,but both could be retained by Congress-NCP if they made the right moves,observers said.

In Amravati,the Congress and NCP,who contested separately,will have to come together to rule the corporation. In the 87-seat corporation,the Congress,led by President’s Pratibha Patil’s MLA son Rajendra Shekhawat,fared impressively by winning 25 seats,four more than last time.