Congress proposes alliance with NCP by demanding 20 seats

Senior Congress leaders from Pimpri-Chinchwad met NCP city unit chief Yogesh Behl on Thursday morning to sound out the possibility of a pre-poll understanding.

Pune: Days after the first round of talks between the two Nationalist Congress Party factions to explore a possible tie-up following MP Supriya Sule’s call for unity, the Congress on Thursday added a new twist by formally approaching the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to discuss an alliance for the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections.

Congress proposes alliance with NCP by demanding 20 seats

Senior Congress leaders from Pimpri-Chinchwad met NCP city unit chief Yogesh Behl on Thursday morning to sound out the possibility of a pre-poll understanding. According to leaders present at the meeting, the Congress has officially sought 20 seats in the 123-member civic body as part of any seat-sharing arrangement.

The development comes against the backdrop of ongoing talks between the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), which began earlier this week after Supriya Sule publicly appealed for efforts to bring the two factions together ahead of key elections. While those discussions are still at an exploratory stage, the Congress move has widened the scope of alliance negotiations in the industrial township.

Confirming the meeting, Congress election campaign committee member from Pimpri-Chinchwad Manoj Kamble said the party had taken a local decision to reach out to parties opposed to the BJP. “We have decided at the local level to strike an alliance with parties that are opposed to the BJP in these polls. Our senior leaders have also asked us to explore such possibilities. Accordingly, we have proposed an alliance to the NCP so that the BJP can be contained in Pimpri-Chinchwad. While the final decision will be taken by our state president Harshavardhan Sapkal, we have conveyed that we are seeking 20 seats,” Kamble said.

Behl said the NCP has received the proposal positively and will place it before party chief Ajit Pawar for a decision. “We welcome the proposal made by the Congress and will discuss it with Ajit Pawar this week. As instructed by our party leadership, we are not contesting the Pimpri-Chinchwad polls with the BJP. We are open to exploring other options here,” Behl said.

In Pune as well, Congress leader Arvind Shinde indicated that an understanding with the NCP would not be an issue if talks move forward. With parallel discussions underway between the two NCP factions and now a formal outreach by the Congress, the shape of opposition alliances in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune is expected to become clearer in the coming days.