Pune: In a high-stakes battle for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, NCP chief Ajit Pawar has formed an alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP(SP) in a bid to reclaim the civic body, once considered his political bastion. BJP, on the other hand, has decided to contest the poll independently, aiming to retain its hold after it broke NCP’s nearly three-decade-long dominance in the 2017 election.
Shiv Sena(UBT) has continued its tie-up with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, similar to the one they have stitched for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Barring these two arrangements, all other parties, including the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and the Aam Aadmi Party, in Pimpri Chinchwad will go solo. BJP has already taken a lead by securing unopposed win for two of its candidates.The civic body, which is going to polls after a gap of nearly nine years, is set to witness a multi-cornered contest. The two Mahayuti partners at the state level — BJP and NCP — will take on each other across most of the 32 wards. BJP has nominated candidates in 125 seats (three more will contest as independents since their AB forms were rejected) and Shiv Sena has fielded candidates in 58 seats (two more will contest as independents since their AB forms were rejected). NCP is contesting from 118 seats (three withdrew from the race on Friday), while NCP(SP) will contest from 11 seats, including seven where there will be a friendly fight between the two factions. Shiv Sena and BJP remained engaged in alliance talks until the final day for filing nominations, but barely two hours before the deadline, they announced they would contest the election separately. Negotiations between Congress and Shiv Sena(UBT) collapsed a day before the last date for nominations.Gautam Chabukswar, former MLA and Sena(UBT) member, on Friday said, “We were trying to bring together MVA partners, but first NCP(SP) opted out and then Congress decided to go solo a day before the last day for nominations.”Speaking to reporters in Pimpri Chinchwad on Friday, deputy CM Ajit Pawar said he held talks with Shiv Sena to explore a possible alliance but failed. “The alliance talks with Shiv Sena did not work out, but we agreed to help each other in one of the 32 wards in PCMC,” he said.
