Alliances hit an impasse; parties differ over seat-sharing

January 26, 2017 12:12 am | Updated 12:12 am IST

Pune: Political alliances are far from being forged even as the civic polls to the municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad draw close.

As in Mumbai, talks between Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress have hit a deadlock. Talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena to jointly contest the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation seem to be on the brink of collapse after beginning on a positive note last week.

The impasse has left aspiring candidates confused over how to go about campaigning. A Shiv Sena leader hoping to contest the PCMC poll said, “It would be embarrassing to face the voters if we jointly campaign now [with the BJP] only to learn later that there is no alliance.” Aspiring candidates in the Congress and the NCP face a similar dilemma. “Indecision by the top brass is costing us precious campaigning time,” a Congress leader said.

The Sena wants to contest 55 of the 128 seats in the PCMC as it secured 14 seats in the 2012 civic polls while the BJP won just three seats. “We have stated our position on seat-sharing. The ball is now in the BJP’s court,” Sena MP Shrirang Barne said. The BJP, however, finds the Sena’s offer unacceptable as it claims to have an edge in the polls with senior NCP leaders from the Pimpri-Chinchwad area joining its fold.

BJP leader Sarang Kamtekar said, “We are determined to take control of the PCMC from the NCP. We are looking at candidates who are potential winners. It is not about which party fights on how many seats.”

Ego seems to a major hurdle for a BJP-Sena partnership. BJP State president Raosaheb Danve said that his party had not delivered any ‘ultimatum’ to the Sena and the BJP would go it alone in Pune if a “respectable alliance” couldn’t be forged.

The NCP, which controls the 162-seat civic body, has staked claim to 116 seats. The Congress has been terming its share “too less” and wants to contest 71 instead of the 46 offered. The former, however, says that the Congress in not in a position of strength. “Defections and resignations has left the Congress with just 21 corporators from their earlier strength of 28. Their demand of 71 seats is too high,” an NCP leader said.

The lack of a majority by a single party in the PMC has led to need-driven poll alliances in the past. Owing to a feud between Mr. Pawar and then Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi after the 2007 civic polls, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar join hands with the Sena and the BJP to keep the Congress out of power.

After sharing power in the PMC for more than two years, the alliance was discontinued by the BJP and the Sena in 2009. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the alliance was creating severe confusion for poll aspirants.

Mr. Pawar said, “We have given the authority to city leaders to make alliances. I had a talk with the Congress State president Ashok Chavan on this matter recently and we believe that to stem the saffron tide [BJP-Sena], the NCP and the Congress need to come together.”

However, the NCP leaders have said an NCP-Congress alliance for the PCMC poll was out of the question as the Congress only has 14 corporators as opposed to the NCP’s 81.

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