Although both the parties have reached an accord, they still remain poles apart on questions like underground metro or allowing construction on the hills of the city.
The resurrection of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress alliance in the city might not be on the right pitch given the fact that the NCP is firm on keeping the coveted positions of the chairman of both standing committee and city improvement committee (CIC) with it.
Although both the parties have reached an accord, they still remain poles apart on questions like underground metro or allowing construction on the hills of the city.
While the NCP had initially supported an elevated metro corridor, it later changed its stance prior to the elections. Also, while chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had supported 4% construction on the hills of the city, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has consistently opposed any such construction.
Post the declaration of the results of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the NCP had bagged 51 seats, while the Congress had won 28 seats. State Congress president, Manikrao Thackeray, had announced that the party would go in an alliance with the NCP to elect the mayor of the city.
This is the second time the two parties came together in the local body and the alliance is already facing starting trouble. Last time when the two parties had come together, the post of the mayor had gone to the NCP, while the Congress was given the post of the deputy mayor.
Other important posts like the chairman of the standing committee, school education board and others were shared between the two parties on rotation.
However, last year the alliance came to an abrupt end when the NCP decided to support Ganesh Bidkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the post of the standing committee chairman against Shankar Pawar of the Congress. That had lead to both the parties fighting the elections on their own this time.
A senior NCP leader, while speaking to DNA, stated that given the numeric superiority the party enjoys, they would be keeping the post of the chairman of the standing committee and city improvement committee with them.
“The post of the deputy mayor would go to the Congress, but it makes sense to us if we keep the standing committee and the city improvement with us,” the leader said.
Given the acrimonious stance of both the parties, political observers feel that NCP does not want to part with the crucial positions in the PMC. “This would ensure that the party gets to keep its word and push forcefully their agenda on many issues,” they argued.
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