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NCP, Cong take control of Navi Mumbai civic body

The two parties were in power in Maharashtra for 15 years, before being ousted in last October’s assembly elections by the BJP and the Shiv Sena.

Mumbai - After fighting bitterly over the past few months, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress on Monday decided to patch up their differences and join hands to run the Navi Mumbai municipal corporation.

The two parties were in power in Maharashtra for 15 years, before being ousted in last October’s assembly elections by the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Differences between the two, however, persisted and they fought the recent elections to the Navi Mumbai and Aurangabad civic elections separately.

The NCP emerged as the single-largest party in Navi Mumbai, winning 52 of the 111 seats, while the Congress won just 10. The Shiv Sena came second with 37 seats and the BJP was reduced to fourth position, winning just six seats. The remaining seats are held by independents.According to Sunil Tatkare, the NCP president, the Congress on Monday agreed to back the NCP and take control of the Navi Mumbai corporation. The two will share key posts, with the NCP getting to nominate the mayor and the chairman of the power standing committee. The Congress gets the deputy mayor’s post.

The NCP has also agreed to share other important posts - including chairman of other committees - with the Congress, at least for one of the five years.

All the major political parties in Maharashtra have often ignored their official alliances and joined hands with rivals to take control of many civic bodies. They have dumped ideologies, planks such as ‘secularism’ and ‘communalism,’ and buried past differences while stitching up opportunistic alliances.  -nithin@khaleejtimes.com