Congress-NCP at loggerheads in local bodies elections

Mumbai, Mar 2 (UNI) Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, the ruling coalition partners in Maharashtra are contesting against each other in nearly all the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti constituencies baring a few exceptions.

The spokesmen of both the parties today told reporters that both the parties are contesting without alliance in 1646 constituencies of 27 Zilla Parishad and 3272 constituencies of 310 Panchayat samitis. The election is scheduled to be held on March 11.

NCP general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni said barring some local level unerstandings in Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Nasik, Buldana and Kolhapur, both the parties are contesting against each other in remaining Zilla parishads.

Meanwhile, NCP state unit president Arun Gujarathi said the party is in a position to elect its Mayor in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Ulhas Nagar and added that efforts are on to capture Thane also where Sena-BJP alliance is falling short to simple majority.

The NCP also released its manifesto in which the party has assured of allround development.

UNI