Ajit Pawar has dropped ample hints that Mahayuti will remain in office till the state assembly elections (File)
Pune:
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) national president and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday suddenly announced that the party would contest local body and municipal elections in Maharashtra on its own.
“The NCP fought the Lok Sabha elections along with allies of Mahayuti. The party will also fight the subsequent state assembly elections along with its allies. But, we will fight the municipal and local body elections on our own,” the deputy chief minister said at a meeting with party workers in Pimpri Chinchwad. A few days ago, 28 NCP workers had joined Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
He asked party workers to gear up for NCP’s victory not only in the assembly elections but also in local and municipal elections.
This will be the first time that the NCP will try its luck alone in local body and municipal elections since Ajit Pawar’s departure from the Sharad Pawar-led party in July 2023.
While the NCP has a sizeable presence in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, it does not have a significant presence in Mumbai and some other cities.
The party also faces a major challenge in further strengthening its organisation in different districts and other cities to contest local and municipal elections on its own.
Ajit Pawar’s announcement that he would contest solo in the local and municipal elections coincided with a state BJP conference where Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed party members to work hard to ensure that not only Kamal (Lotus Flower) but also its allies Shiv Sena and NCP win the state assembly elections to form a Mahyuti government.
State BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Friday said the party will contest not only the state assembly elections along with the Shiv Sena and the NCP but also the upcoming local and municipal elections.
He asked party leaders to intensify voter outreach for the same.
Ajit Pawar has fully hinted that Mahayuti may stay on till the state assembly elections and the three parties may field candidates in the zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and local body elections respectively.
Elections to 27 municipalities, 25 provincial councils and several local bodies have been on hold for almost two years.
Ajit Pawar’s announcement came after RSS-affiliated Marathi weekly Vivek reported that BJP activists were not in favour of an alliance with the NCP.
Earlier, The Organiser, another RSS-linked magazine, had also said the Lok Sabha election results had served as a reality check for an overconfident BJP and cast doubt on its move to join forces with the NCP ahead of the general elections.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
