The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has decided to leave the decision to form an alliance for the upcoming first phase of municipal body elections and municipal panchayat elections in Maharashtra to the local units of the parties.
MVA leaders, including from the Sena UBT, NCP(SP) and Congress, held a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday but refrained from announcing the alliance. A senior leader of the Congress Party said, “The meeting was about general coordination between the components of the India bloc. It was decided to allow the local units to make their decision about contesting these elections according to their desire, as a large number of workers from all parties are ready to contest these elections. No party can ask the workers to back down because the local body elections are being held after a long gap.” The commander said that where necessary, the alliance would be based on local circumstances.
The meeting on inclusion of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the MVA has not been finalised. The Congress party has maintained a distance from the PNM in the wake of the ongoing Bihar Assembly elections, which ended on Tuesday.
A section within the Congress is willing to ally with the PNM depending on the local political situation while another group wants to keep the party at bay, due to its aggressive stance towards migrants, especially North Indians and Raj Thackeray’s earlier stance regarding Muslims.
Congress Party (SP) working president Supriya Sule, party state unit chief Shashikant Shinde, Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal, Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab, Lok Sabha MP Anil Desai, Mahadev Jankar of the Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) and Sachin Kharat of the Republican Party of India (Kharat) joined the meeting.
After the meeting, Sapkal said that the decision had been taken to carry out the necessary coordination to contest the elections with a unified force. Sule said the discussion was about the local situation in each region and how to move forward. She added, “We discussed the steps that must be taken to move forward and form the coordination committee. A clear and complete picture will emerge over the next two or three days about the political position of each party.”
Sule also confirmed that a committee will be formed to coordinate the work as the India bloc. She added: “With regard to the inclusion of any other party, the decision will be taken by the front’s senior leaders.” Elections to 246 municipal councils and 42 panchayats in the first phase are scheduled to be held on December 2, with the counting of votes to take place on December 3.
(Tags for translation)Maha Vikas Aghadi
