National
What’s Brewing : Ajit Pawar’s NCP Seals Alliance With Sharad Pawar Faction For Pune Municipal Corporation Election, Days After Pimpri Chinchwad Tie-Up
The fresh tie-up was announced a day after the NCP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar, a member of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, finalised an alliance for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections in Pune district.
Picture Credit : @AjitPawarSpeaks/X
The Nationalist Congress Party headed by Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar faction led by his uncle Sharad Pawar sealed an alliance for the upcoming elections to the Pune Municipal Corporation , a day before the deadline for filing nominations ends.
The fresh tie-up was announced a day after the NCP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar, a member of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, finalised an alliance for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections in Pune district.
“After NCP (SP) Pune unit chief Prashant Jagtap’s exit from the party, several workers approached the party working president Supriya Sule and requested the need for joining hands with NCP.
“A decision on the alliance has been taken considering the sentiments of local party workers,” said NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday.
The alliances have been forged to ensure that the election battle becomes easier for both factions, he said, adding that for now, the parties will fight the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls together.
Elections to 29 civic bodies in Maharashtra will be held on January 15. The counting of votes will take place the next day. The last date for filing nominations is December 30.
Rohit Pawar clarified that NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar was not involved in the decision related to finalising the alliance.
“However, he believes that party workers are important and their views matter for the civic polls,” said the NCP-SP general secretary.
A seat-sharing formula has also been decided, he said, without elaborating further.
The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations are politically crucial for the Pawar clan, given that several IT and industrial units are located in the jurisdictions of the two civic bodies. The area has remained a bastion of the Pawars for decades.
With the rival NCP factions coming together in two municipal bodies after a bitter 2023 split that saw Ajit Pawar joining the BJP-led NDA government with loyalist MLAs, the battle lines are drawn tentatively between the BJP-Shiv Sena and the two NCP factions.