Congress president Nana Patole
MUMBAI: A month after state Congress president
Nana Patole
declared that the Congress would contest the forthcoming civic and zilla parishad elections on its own, the Sharad Pawar-led
NCP
too said on Monday that though the
MVA government
comprises three parties, the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena will contest the local elections separately. NCP spokesperson and skill development minister Nawab Malik said that while the MVA government has three parties, no party is in a mood to contest the civic and zilla parishad elections jointly. “The MVA has three constituents, and we (Sena, NCP and Congress) are not in a mood to contest the elections independently. After the results are out, we will decide the course of action to keep the BJP out of power. Even if we contest the elections separately, the MVA will remain intact,” Malik said. Malik said the possibility of the MVA constituents putting up common candidates against the BJP is ruled out. But since, in several districts, there is no presence of the BJP, the NCP, Congress and Sena will not hesitate to put up candidates against each other. “In several zilla parishads and municipal corporations, BJP may not put up its candidates, so the constituents of MVA will contest the elections against each other,” he said. Malik pointed out that in several districts and municipal corporations, the
MVA allies
will take a decision on an alliance depending on local conditions. “Take the case of Kolhapur. I will not be surprised if it witnesses a triangular contest between the Sena, Congress and NCP, since the BJP does not exist there. A similar situation exists in several corporations and zilla parishads,” he added. A month ago, when Patole had said that Congress will contest all ensuing polls independently, he had been at the receiving end of criticism, with his critics saying that it was not the policy of the AICC and that he did not have the backing of the Congress high command, particularly
Congress president
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. All India Congress Committee general secretary H K Patil, who is in charge of Maharashtra, too had distanced himself from Patole’s statement, saying it was too early to talk on alliances for the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Even senior state cabinet members had distanced themselves from Patole’s statements. The only politician who came out in support of Patole was Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap, who made it clear that Congress had the organizational strength to contest the elections independently.
