Cong won't help Sena & BJP in gaining control of BMC: Nirupam

Congress, which faced its worst ever rout in Mumbai winning only 31 of the 227 seats in the civic body, today said it will not do anything that will benefit the Shiv Sena and BJP in their bid to gain control of the country's richest civic body.
"We will not dilute our ideological stand. People defeated us and gave us a mandate to sit in the opposition. We respect that. But voters have not given the saffron parties, who fought a bitter battle, the keys to power. Congress will not help these two parties, but would like to see their fight continue and differences aggravate," Congress city unit chief Sanjay Nirupam told PTI.

He said that people will get to see how the party, which sought votes in the name of transparency, indulges in horse-trading.
The BJP had made "transparency" its main plank for the BMC polls.
The hung verdict in Mumbai is expected to change the political calculations as Sena and BJP are not in the position to rule the country's richest civic body on its own.
However, it is not yet clear whether the saffron allies, which share power both in Maharashtra and at the Centre, will join hands to rule the BMC.

In the counting of votes held yesterday, the Congress was relegated to the third position with 31 seats. Shiv Sena topped the tally with 84 seats, followed by BJP which won 82 seats, just two less than the estranged saffron ally.

In the 2012 BMC polls, the Congress had won 52 seats and in 2007, it had emerged victorious on 75 seats in the Mumbai civic body.
Taking moral responsibility for Congress' poor performance in the BMC polls, Nirupam had offered to resign from his post yesterday.