Mumbai: The ruling Congress and Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday struck an alliance for the crucial
election to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation elections,
due in February, at a meeting here this evening.
The two parties will contest the civic polls in adjoining
Thane and Nashik, Congress sources said.
The number of seats to be contested by each party would
be declared later, they said. However, no decision could be
taken on an alliance between the two parties for Pune civic
body poll, at the meeting. The issue would be discussed at
another meeting on November 30, the sources said.
Despite internal differences, Congress and NCP are being
forced to consider the alliance, in the backdrop of the
Republican Party of India (Athavale), representing crucial
Dalit votes, joining hands with the Sena-BJP combine.
The first round of talks between the state party unit
presidents of both the Congress and NCP held last week had
ended on a positive note, with a resolve to unseat the
Sena-BJP combine from India's richest civic body, having an
annual budget of Rs 22,000 crore.
The Sena-BJP alliance had retained control over BMC in
the 2007 elections, benefiting from division of votes as an
alliance between Congress and NCP could not materialise.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 24, 2011, 00:48