Evidently, there is more to the BJP nominees becoming mayor and deputy mayor in the recent Ahmednagar municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra than meets the eye. In this election, as many as 18 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporators defied the party line to support the BJP. This was unusual considering that at the national and state levels, the two parties are in rival camps with the BJP tied to the Shiv Sena and NCP to the Congress.
Political circles in the state are agog with speculation that this could be the precursor of a Congress-NCP alliance on a larger canvas even though state NCP president Jayant Patil has denied that there is any design in thetie-up. Significantly, the Shiv Sena had emerged as the single largest party winning 24 seats in the 68-seat civic body followed by the BJP with 14, Congress five, the BSP with four, independents two and Samajwadi Party one in the elections held on December 9. Some of the Sena corporators had boycotted the poll. The constant badgering that the BJP has been receiving from Shiv Sena makes one wonder if the BJP is looking for an alternative alliance partner.
