NCP claims it was kept out of Mahayuti seat-sharing talks for Thane civic polls

The Ajit Pawarled Nationalist Congress Party NCP on Tuesday said it has kept the option open to contest the upcoming Thane Municipal Corporation TMC elections independently alleging that its Mahayuti allies have excluded it from seatsharing discussions news agency PTI reportedNCP Spokesperson Anand Paranjape claimed that while local leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and Shiv Sena have already begun talks to finalise seatsharing arrangements for the TMC polls the NCP has not been invited to participate in themldquoEven though meetings of the alliance partners are underway the NCP has not been invited Therefore we have begun preparations to contest the elections independentlyrdquo he said according to PTIParanjape also alleged that NCPrsquos Thane District President Najeeb Mulla has not been contacted by either the BJP or the Shiv SenaHe said the party would announce its seat expectations only after receiving a formal invitation for alliance talks adding that 380 aspirants have been interviewed over the past two days PTI reportedldquoIf the NCP is offered respectable representation in the alliance for the Thane Municipal Corporation we are ready to contest together Otherwise the NCP is fully prepared to contest all 131 seats on its ownrdquo Paranjape saidWhile reiterating that the NCP prefers to contest elections as part of the grand alliance wherever possible he said the party would also consider local tieups or independent contests if requiredReferring to the recent elections to 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats Paranjape said mayors from the BJPndashShiv SenandashNCP alliance were elected in around 215 bodiesldquoPeople of Maharashtra have reaffirmed their faith in the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinderdquo he addedThe longpending elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra including Mumbai are scheduled to be held on January 15 with counting of votes the next dayAjit Pawar reached out with proposal for Pune civic poll tieup says Congress leader Satej PatilSenior Congress leader Satej Patil on Tuesday said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has contacted him with a proposal for a possible alliance for the upcoming Pune local body electionsSpeaking to reporters in Kolhapur Patil said the Congress hopes to contest the Pune civic polls as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA and has already held three rounds of talks with alliance partners Shiv Sena and NCP SPldquoI received a call from Ajit dada The proposal to tie up with Congress had come for Pune We are deliberating on it and holding discussions with the Congressrsquos local leadership and the partyrsquos state president Harshvardhan Sapkalrdquo stated PatilkThe elections to the Pune Municipal Corporation are scheduled for January 15 with counting of votes to be held the next dayMeanwhile NCP Pune City President Subhash Jagtap said the rival factions of the party have also discussed a possible alliance for the civic pollsldquoAs far as seatsharing is concerned both factions are ready to arrive at a consensus The official announcement will be made around December 25rdquo stated JagtapHowever NCP Sharadchandra Pawar city unit president Prashant Jagtap expressed displeasure over the prospect of a tieup between the two factions in Pune Amid reports about his resignation he said he was travelling to Mumbai to meet party leader Supriya SuleldquoI will not speak about the resignation issue I am going to meet Supriya Sule in Mumbai and will comment after the meetingrdquo he saidWith PTI inputs