Mahayuti alliance cracks in Latur as BJP to contest all 70 civic seats

The muchanticipated alliance between the BJP and NCP for the January 15 elections to the Latur Municipal Corporation LMC in Maharashtra appears to have broken down with the former announcing it will contest all 70 seats independently reported news agency PTITalking to reporters on Tuesday the last day of filing nominations former minister and BJPs Latur civic poll incharge MLA Sambhajirao Patil Nilangekar declared his party will contest all 70 seats in the LMCHe said the BJP had made sincere efforts to forge an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party NCPDespite the willingness shown by senior NCP leaders in the district he claimed the alliance was derailed due to interference by second and thirdrung functionaries who threw a spanner in the works reported PTIHe noted that NCP leaders including Minister Babasaheb Patil former minister Sanjay Bansode and MLC Vikram Kale were keen on contesting the polls as part of the alliance reported PTIHowever office bearers accompanying the NCP leadership allegedly sabotaged the understanding Refusing to name those responsible for the breakup Nilangekar advised the NCPs district leadership to remain cautious of such forces reported PTINilangekar asserted that the BJP would contest the Latur civic elections with full strengthMahayuti allies go separate ways ahead of Jalna Municipal Corporation pollsMeanwhile after weeks of intense negotiations over seatsharing the Mahayuti alliance appears to have broken down ahead of Jalna Municipal Corporation JMC elections in Maharashtra with partners deciding to contest the January 15 polls independently reported PTIThe collapse became evident on Tuesday the final day for filing nomination forms with alliance partners the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party NCP deciding to contest the polls independentlyThe NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar a key Mahayuti partner on Monday night announced its decision to go solo alleging its strength was being consistently neglected by its BJP and Shiv Sena reported PTISpeaking to media persons NCP Jalna district president and former MLA Arvind Chavan said BJP and Shiv Sena leaders were holding seatsharing meetings without inviting representatives from his party reported PTIWe were not given due respect Our party was ignored despite its organisational strength Hence we have decided to contest the elections independently and demonstrate our strength Chavan said reported PTIOn the last day of nominations both BJP and Shiv Sena fielded candidates in all 65 seats in the JMCJanuary 2 is the last date for withdrawal of nominationsBJP leader and former MLA Kailash Gorantyal said although a seatsharing formula had initially been discussed disagreements arose when the Shiv Sena insisted on contesting certain seats claimed by his partyAs no consensus could be reached we have decided to contest the elections independently Gorantyal said reported PTIIn contrast the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA comprising the Congress Shiv Sena UBT and NCP SP has already finalised its seatsharing arrangementAccording to sources the Congress has been allotted AB forms given to official party candidates for 42 seats Shiv Sena UBT for 12 seats and NCP SP for 11With the Mahayuti split and multiple parties entering the fray independently the JMC elections are expected to witness a keenly contested multicornered fightJalna is one of the 29 municipal corporations going to polls on January 15With inputs from PTI