Congress-NCP ally again to rule Kolhapur

As anticipated, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have once again joined hands to share power in the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, party leaders said here on Tuesday.

Virtually spelling a revival of fortunes, the KMC will be the first major municipal corporation that the Congress-NCP have bagged since being routed in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2014, and led to their 15-year old alliance breaking.

The Congress won 27 seats and the NCP bagged 15 in the 81-member KMC house in the elections held last Sunday, the results of which were announced on Monday.

Jointly, the two parties achieved the magic figure of 41 to administer the prestigious civic body in western Maharashtra, and an erstwhile kingdom of the Chhatrapati royal clan.

Congress leaders Satej Patil, Patangrao Kadam and NCP leader Hasan Mushrif made the announcement on Tuesday after they sealed the power-share deal to rule KMC for the second consecutive term.

"As per the understanding, the Congress nominee will occupy the mayor's post while the NCP nominee will be deputy mayor in rotation," Patil told mediapersons after emerging from a joint meeting.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party managed to secure only 12 seats while its local ally Tararani Aghadi scored 20, with the Shiv Sena arrested at four seats.

The development was preceded by hectic behind-the-scenes politicking in which the BJP-Tararani Aghadi was prepared to extend outside support to NCP to capture the body in a bid to keep Congress out of power.