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Sangli mayoral polls a jolt for BJP: NCP-Cong win mayor, dy mayor’s seats
PUNE The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a setback on Tuesday when some of its corporators voted in favour of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress candidate in the mayoral elections of the Sangli-Kupwad municipal corporation
PUNE The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a setback on Tuesday when some of its corporators voted in favour of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress candidate in the mayoral elections of the Sangli-Kupwad municipal corporation.
As a result, the NCP managed to elect Digvijay Suryawanshi as mayor, while the Congress’ candidate, Umesh Patil, has been elected deputy mayor of the Sangli Miraj Kupwad municipal corporation.
The corporation is currently ruled by the BJP with a clear majority.
Of the 78-member civic body, the BJP has a total of 43 councillors, while the NCP-Congress strength is 34.
According to NCP leaders, five of BJP corporators defied the party line and voted in favour of the NCP-Congress candidates, while two remained absent.
After winning the mayoral polls, Digvijay Suryawanshi said, “This success belongs to all the senior leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) including Vishwajit Patil and Jayant Patil. What happened - some of the BJP members voting in our favour – is the result of the dictatorship that the party is exercising while running the civic body. Even though we had a strength of 34 corporators, we managed to elect our mayor and deputy mayor.”
According to NCP district president Dinesh Jagtap, the BJP’s Dhiraj Suryawanshi only got 36 votes, despite the party having strength of 43 in the house. “This had to happen as many were unhappy with the local leadership here,” said Bajaj.
The development is seen as jolt to BJP state unit chief Chandrakant Patil, who was monitoring the elections. NCP state president and cabinet minister, Jayant Patil, who personally was looking into the election strategy, congratulated Suryawanshi and Patil on their win.
The BJP alleged that NCP and Congress misused their power to garner support from some BJP councillors. “We will inquire into what went wrong. However, is it very clear that the Congress and NCP is misusing its power in the state which may have led to our defeat in Sangli,” said BJP leader Ashish Shelar.
This is the second consecutive setback for Chandrakant Patil after the BJP candidate suffered a massive defeat in the recent graduate constituency polls in Pune.
