Cong suffers setback in Maha civic polls

The ruling Congress party on Monday received a major setback as it failed to wrest control of the Navi Mumbai municipal corporation from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Though the Congress and NCP form the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, they had contested separately for the 89-member Navi Mumbai municipal corporation.

Similarly, the Congress, which had formed an alliance with NCP and a breakaway group formed by the Shiv Sena’s former MP, in the Aurangabad municipal corporation, failed to unseat the Shiv Sena-BJP combine.

In the 50-member Ambernath municipal council, too, the Congress could win just three seats, while the NCP bagged nine. In the adjoining 34-member Badlapur-Kulgaon municipal council in Thane district, the Shiv Sena-BJP combine won 19 seats and foiled the Congres-NCP alliance’s plan to snatch the power.

In Aurangabad, the Sena-BJP alliance won 45 seats, while the Congress, which had made loud claims, won 19 and 11 seats were bagged by the NCP.

Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire emerged an architect of the victory of saffron alliance though he failed to get his son elected in the fiercely faught elections.

In the 89-member Navi Mumbai municipal corporation elections, both the Congress and the NCP, though ruling alliance partners running a coalition government in Maharashtra, had contested seats separately. NCP succeeded in retaining its supremacy by winning 55 seats while the Congress managed to bag 13 seats only. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had made the Navi Mumbai election a prestige issue and during campaigning did not leave any opportunity to criticise the 10-year NCP rule in the civic body. Chavan infact had attacked the NCP leader and Excise Minister Ganesh Naik and announced if the Congress was voted to power the state government would not waste time in increasing floor space index.

Naik, who was opposed to NCP’s tie-up with the Congress from the start, became a real architect of the NCP victory in the civic body elections. Incidentally, Shiv Sena, which struck alliance with the BJP, failed in its attempt to maul Naik. Sena won 16 seats while the BJP won only one. Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray had made all attempts to hurl saffron flag atop Navi Mumbai civic body. Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s video recorded speech was played on the last day of campaigning last week .

NCP has thanked the voters of Navi Mumbai for giving yet another chance and said the party would expedite implementation of various development projects.