Congress-NCP want to go alone in upcoming local bodies polls

Pune, Oct 12 (UNI) With the countdown for the elections to local bodies to be held early next year having started, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have begun trading charges and counter charges at each other.

Both,Senior Congress leader and city MP Suresh Kalmadi and NCP leader Ajit Pawar asserted that their parties would go alone in the upcoming polls.

Mr Kalmadi charged that Mr Pawar was frustrated and feeling insecure with the entry of his cousin Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, in the party fold.

He alleged that even the NCP workers did not like his style of functioning.

''He is anti-develoment and as for his stance of having a Marathi representation in the local bodies, he has been tutored by BJP MLA Girish Bapat to talk this language. But everybody knows who won the elections last time,'' Mr Kalmadi said.

He added that his party workers were in favour of avoiding any kind of dealing with the NCP, as it keeps changing its stand.

Mr Kalmadi also pointed out that Mr Pawar was politicising developmental issues. For instance, he holds the post of the Chairman of the Slum Regulatory Authority (SRA), while he is also the District Guardian Minister. The two posts cannot be held by one person, he added.

He lashed out at Mr Pawar for criticising him during a public meeting earlier in the day.

Mr Pawar, in the rally, had charged that senior Congress leaders such as Prabha Rau and Margaret Alva wanted the party to contest the elections independently without any alliances.

''We would like to come together with like-minded secular parties, but we will go alone if the Congress insists on contesting the elections alone,'' he said.

The NCP leader said the UPA government had no differences on developmental issues with its coalition partners when it comes to Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel. However, at local levels, all developmental issues were being politicised. ''The condition of roads is bad and there is no coordination and cooperation between the agencies. It is time that Marathi people represented themselves in the local bodies,'' he added.

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