NCP (SP) opens talks with Congress for BMC polls, stakes claim to 50 seats
mumbai: The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) has begun negotiations with the Congress for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, demanding 50 seats, after efforts to reach a workable seat-sharing arrangement with the Thackeray brothers failed. After Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray left little space for other parties in seat-sharing talks, the former Union agriculture ministers party decided to explore an alliance with the Congress. According to highly placed sources, Sharad Pawar was keen on retaining the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and wanted Raj Thackeray included in the alliance to take on the BJP in the BMC polls. However, the Congress leadership refused to take the MNS chief on board, citing his earlier antiNorth Indian stance. Sharad Pawar tried to pursue it, but his effort went in vain. Then, the local cadre of his party was keen to be part of an alliance with the Thackeray brothers. But in the primary negotiations, it was found that Thackerays brother refused to concede a satisfactory number of seats to NCP (SP). They felt there was little space between the two Thackerays. Therefore, NCP (SP) has freshly started negotiations with the Congress with a demand of 50 seats in Mumbai, said a senior leader, requesting anonymity. The NCP Mumbai unit leader, Rakhi Jadhav, reportedly met Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad and submitted a list of seats the party wants to contest. However, a final decision is yet to be taken. For the BMC elections, the Congress has decided to contest on its own, having concluded that an alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) was not electorally beneficial. Congress leaders believe that while the partys minority votes get easily transferred to the Thackeray faction, the Shiv Sena (UBT)s Hindutva voters do not shift to the Congress. As a result, the party has opted to go solo and focus on consolidating its Dalit, minority and other backward class vote base. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal held a meeting with OBC leader Mahadev Jankar, with both expressing a desire to tie up for the local body elections. Mr Jankar leads the Dhangar shepherd community, which has a sizeable presence across Maharashtra and is considered decisive in western Maharashtra and parts of the Marathwada region.
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