Ahmednagar mayor election highlights BJP-NCP's old "illicit"

The Shiv Sena Monday said NCP's support to the BJP in the Ahmednagar civic body's mayoral election was not a jolt for it and that the new pattern has only highlighted the "old illicit political relations" between the two parties.

BJP's Babasaheb Wakale was last week elected mayor of Ahmednagar after polling 37 votes despite the party having just 14 seats in the 68-member civic body. NCP's 18 corporators, four from the Bahujan Samaj Party and one Independent voted for him.

The Shiv Sena is the largest party in the civic body with 24 seats.

Five Congress corporators in the civic body had abstained from voting.

"The Shiv Sena has not received any jolt due to the politics played by the BJP and NCP. The BJP and NCP's illicit political relation is old and the present Maharashtra government was basically born out of this relationship," the Sena said in an editorial of its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"The new pattern (seen) in Ahmednagar has only highlighted it," it added.

It recalled that the NCP had offered unconditional support to the BJP after the latter emerged as the single largest party in 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The Shiv Sena was the distant second largest party in that election, winning over 60 seats.

"They (the BJP and NCP) keep saying there is no illicit relationship between them. But it (mayor's election in Ahmednagar) has only exposed them and Maharashtra is laughing at them," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

The Sena also questioned BJP's victories in the Jalgaon and Dhule civic polls and attributed its success there to "money game, use of pressure tactics through power and technical scam".

"They could not engage in such a scam in Ahmednagar because the situation there was in favour of the Shiv Sena," the Marathi daily said.

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, was also not impressed by NCP's claim that its leadership was "clueless" about its corporators supporting the saffron party in the Ahmednagar civic body.

It also dubbed the NCP's announcement of taking action against its corporators as a "mere sham".

"It is now being told that NCP chief Sharad Pawar or the party's state leaders did not have any clue about the BJP-NCP 'chapter'. Only Pawar knows whether he knew about it (such a tie-up) or not. But this 'democracy' in Ahmednagar can be an anarchy tomorrow," the Sena warned.