The local leadership of the Congress joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to come to power in Vidarbha’s Gondiya zilla parishad has raised questions over the sustainability of the the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance for the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha bypoll.
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee has said that the decision was taken without consulting the State body, and sought an explanation from the local Gondiya leadership. The seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and BJP was fixed two-and-a-half years ago to keep the NCP out, and on Monday both the parties decided to continue the arrangement.
Following the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole and his decision to join the Congress, the two Opposition parties had said that they would contest the resulting Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha bypoll as allies. As per the seat distribution formula between the two parties, this Lok Sabha constituency belongs to the NCP. Former Union Minister Praful Patel has represented the seat in the past.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “We have asked the local leadership to explain their actions. We were not informed about this. But local political equations should not come in the way of larger political alliances. We do not think that this will have any impact on the bypoll.”
Local Congress MLA Gopal Aggrawal and Mr. Patel are said to have an extremely bitter political relationship. Despite the Congress having the second largest number of members in the zilla parishad and the NCP’s readiness for an alliance, Mr. Aggrawal chose to joins hands with the BJP.
NCP State president Sunil Tatkare said, “The Congress leadership targets us when it comes to BJP, claiming that we favour them. But this example shows that certain Congress leaders feel the BJP is much closer to them than the NCP. Congress talks about a secular alliance, but its actions are completely different.”
