Mahayuti partners, BJP & NCP, set for face off in 4 western Maha ZPs

Kolhapur: Two Mahayuti partners, BJP and NCP, are set for another round of clash for political dominance in western Maharashtra during the Zilla Parishad (ZP) polls to be held on Feb 5.The Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) have said they would jointly contest the upcoming election in most places. Together, they will take on BJP, which has steadily made inroads in a region that was once a Congress and NCP stronghold. Only in Kolhapur, NCP and BJP are likely to form an alliance to contest the ZP election. There, the two parties will take on Congress and its allies. Election to 12 ZPs, including five from western Maharashtra, and several panchayat samiti have been announced. Voting will take place on Feb 5 and counting will be on Feb 7. Filing of nomination for the election began on last Friday. In the 2017 ZP elections, BJP dislodged Congress and undivided NCP in Sangli and Kolhapur. In Pune, Solapur and Satara ZPs, the undivided NCP was the single largest party and governed the rural bodies. Since then, the Shiv Sena split and two factions formed within the NCP. At the same time, BJP made huge strides in the rural areas of these five districts during the 2019 and 2024 assembly elections.NCP (SP) state chief Shashikant Shinde, who comes from Satara, said, "We decided to join hands for ZP and panchayat samiti polls not just for Pune, but for other ZPs as well. The local party workers, depending on the electoral merit of the candidates interested to contest from either side, will take the decision to allocate the ticket to the party, which has high chances of winning."Among the other Mahayuti partners, in Satara, Shiv Sena is unlikely to go with BJP given the recent war of words between Satara's guardian minister and Sena politician Shambhuraj Desai and minister and BJP leader Jaykumar Gore. They clashed over the development package for Patan tehsil, which Gore offered and Desai rebutted, saying there was no need for it while he was at the helm of affairs in the tehsil.In Sangli, Shiv Sena has strength in Khanapur tehsil where it has MLA Suhas Babar; however, in the rest of the district, its presence is stray. In Kolhapur, BJP will lead Mahayuti while Congress will lead Mahavikas Aghadi. Congress MLC Satej Patil said, "We have started screening the candidates. We are trying to take NCP(SP) along. We are going to leave some seats from panchayat samiti to Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. We are going to join hands with Raju Shetti's Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana. After KMC results, our party workers are on a high. It will benefit us in ZP and panchayat samiti polls."ZPs are called mini-mantralays of rural development since funds for development go to villages. Winning a ZP election is often considered a stepping stone for those who want to become MLAs. Each district, sans urban local bodies, is divided into areas called "electoral divisions". For each such division, two wards are formed from where the members of tehsil panchayat samiti blocks are elected, and from each division, one member of the respective ZP is elected. Form alliance with NCP (SP) where possible for ZP polls: Cong tells district unitsThe Congress party's state leadership has told its district units to ally with MVA partners for the 12 zilla parishad elections, but not to depend much on NCP (SP).The meeting of the parliamentary board members was held in Mumbai on Sunday, where the party's performance in 29 municipal corporations, political equations in the state, and the party's future plans were discussed."We are giving preference to our MVA partners, but since NCP (SP) is already in talks with Ajit Pawar's party, we told our units not to depend much on them for an alliance," a senior Congress member of the parliamentary board told TOI.The committee also discussed the party's performance in the recently concluded municipal corporation polls, in which it bagged 324 seats. "Though the number is not to our satisfaction, it is encouraging. There will be no election in the state for the next four years. The committee feels that the party should strengthen its base without being dependent on allies," the member said.MSID:: 126678205 413 |