THANE: The acrimonious battle between Mahayuti partners BJP and Shiv Sena for control of Ambernath municipal council took a new turn Tuesday as rivals BJP and Congress, in a rare move, joined hands to keep out Shiv Sena in its traditional stronghold falling within MP Shrikant Shinde’s constituency. The Eknath Shinde-led party won the highest number of seats—27, just four shy of majority in the 60-member House—in the Dec 20 polls.
The third party in the BJP-Congress front, named Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, is Ajit Pawar‘s NCP. BJP won 14 seats, while Congress won 12. Ajit Pawar–led NCP managed to win four seats, and two independent candidates were also elected. Sena suffered a setback in municipal president poll, where its candidate Manisha Walekar lost to BJP’s Tejashree Karanjule Patil.
As the alliance between rivals took party cadres by surprise ahead of elections in bigger cities like Mumbai & Thane, BJP sources said these are local polls where local leaders have been authorized to take decisions. A state Congress spokesperson said “no decision has been taken so far”.BJP corporator Abhijit Karanjule Patil has been appointed group leader of Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, comprising BJP and councillors from Congress and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Speaking to TOI, Patil said BJP had contested the elections against corruption and a culture of intimidation under the Shiv Sena’s long rule in the civic body. “Our objective was to free the administration from fear and corruption and to ensure development in Ambernath. Keeping that in mind, we formed this alliance,” he said.BJP had captured the president’s position, but lacked the numerical strength among councilors to run the civic body independently. A municipal council functions in a manner largely similar to a municipal corporation, with the powers of the president comparable to those of a mayor. The president has the authority to decide which issues are taken up for discussion in General Body meetings. However, when it comes to passing a proposal or resolution by consensus, the matter must be approved by a majority vote in the General Body meeting. To overcome the lack of a majority, BJP initiated talks with opposition parties at the local level.These negotiations culminated on Tuesday with the formation of the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi. The Congress state leadership said “no formal proposal” for a tie-up has been received yet, but the alliance announced in Ambernath ow includes 14 BJP corporators, a BJP-backed municipal president, 12 Congress councillors, four of NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), and one independent, giving the coalition a strength of 32—crossing the majority mark in the 60-member council.The development has drawn sharp criticism from the Sena, which has termed the Aghadi an “unethical and opportunistic arrangement.” Shiv Sena MLA from Ambernath, Balaji Kinikar, said while BJP campaigns nationally for a “Congress-free India,” it has strengthened Congress at the municipal level for the sake of power. He alleged that talks were held with BJP leaders, but BJP had opted for a coalition with the Congress instead.Several attempts to contact Congress’s Ambernath city president Pradeep Patil were futile. A Congress spokesperson said in Ambernath, the options are either align with BJP or the Shinde faction or keep off voting. No formal proposal for an alliance was received, he said.
