No alliance with Mahayuti, MNS, AIMIM: Congress

Although local satraps have been permitted to form alliances for the local body polls, the Congress has some strict no-nos

MUMBAI: Citing ideology, the Congress will not have any truck with the Mahayuti, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in the local bodies elections. The state leadership is also against an alliance with the NCP (SP), which is set to join hands with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in some bodies. All this was discussed in the parliamentary board meeting of the party held on Thursday.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Thursday said, “Although the right to form alliances in local body elections has been given at the local level, the Congress is bound by its core ideology, as it is fighting a battle of ideas and not power. No alliance will be formed with parties that are part of the Mahayuti coalition.” The Congressman chose to avoid questions on the MNS and AIMIM but a senior party functionary said that these parties too were off the table. “At the most, we can have a tactical alliance with MNS, and even that is not possible in the case of AIMIM,” he said.

However, the grand old party has several unusual alliances: with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in Nanded, the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha, the Mahadev Jankar-led Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), the Rajendra Gavai-led Republican Party of India and the Wamanrao Chatap-led Swatantra Bharat Paksha in several places. Interestingly, both Shetti and Jankar are former allies of the BJP.

“We do not want smaller parties to be used as spoilers in the local bodies elections,” said another senior Congress leader. “The BJP often uses them to split our votes, and it is important to have them on our side, as the margin of victory in these elections is very low.”

On Wednesday, Congress MP Ravindra Chavan, who represents the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency, announced the alliance with the VBA. “The alliance is specifically focused on the municipal council elections and is built on the principle of mutual respect,” he said. The parties will contest together in 13 municipal councils.

VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar said they had given the rights to the tehsil units to form alliances with all political parties barring the BJP. “Nanded is just one place,” he said. “There may be several places where we will be teaming up with the Congress. I do not have the details right now but the picture will be clear by November 18.”

While the Swabhimani Paksha will join hands with the Congress in several municipal councils in Kolhapur, Sangli and Nagpur among other places, the RSP is likely to tie up with the party in Satara and Kolhapur. “Previously we were in alliance with the BJP but now our party is in talks with the three opposition parties,” confirmed Jankar. “With the Congress, we are joining hands in all the five regions of the state. The exact details will come out in a few days.”

November 17 is the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of local bodies covering 246 municipal councils and 42 municipal panchayats to be held on December 2.