Tweet
He may exude confidence that the Congress-NCP alliance will romp home in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation poll, winning more than a simple majority, but a cautious Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan does not altogether rule out the emergence of a “hung” civic body.
“My real worry is; will there be a hung situation? I do not think so. But the possibility has to be always looked at,” said a trifle anxious Chavan.
Chavan, however, hastened to added, “I do not think there will there be a hung House. Because if you look at the logic of the last elections, the total vote share of the Congress and NCP (which had then contested the BMC poll separately) had added up to 132. Hence, getting a simple majority of 114 seats in the 227-member BMC should not be difficult and survey reports also indicate that”.
Talking to a select group of mediapersons, Chavan candidly admitted that the presence of MNS support base, which has widened markedly since the 2007 BMC poll, would benefit the Congress-led DF, given that the Raj Thackeray-led party would into the Sena-BJP alliance votes as it did in the past.
“Earlier the Shiv Sena had a larger share compared to MNS. That same number of votes, if shared by two parties more equally, then such a situation will help us. The question is whether the MNS will take a whole lot of NCP votes or Congress votes or a whole lot of Sena votes,” Chavan explained.
According to Chavan, the Congress’ surveys show that MNS’ polling percentages have gone up but not enough to make them winners. “If the MNS’ polling percentage is higher, it will help us. This is because the MNS takes away votes primarily from the Sena vote bank. The gap between the Congress and Shiv Sena will further increase, if the Sena vote share goes down,” he says. Asked if he would seek the MNS’ support, Chavan categorically said, “No”.
However, he indicated that he was not averse to taking the help of the Samajwadi Party, given the likely post-poll events in Uttar Pradesh.
Conceding that RPI(A)’s president Ramdas Athvale’s decision to align with the Sena-BJP alliance would have a negative impact on the Congress-NCP, Chavan said, “Athavale will be a negative factor for us. Because, the Sena-BJP alliance did not have this kind of an alliance earlier. I have serious doubts that Dalits are motivated by Athvale’s decision and that the community will entirely go with the Sena. We also have parallel alliances with Dalit parties in place like the one with Jogendra Kavade”.
Chavan has huge stakes in the February 16 poll to BMC, where he has made it prestige issue to dislodge the Sena-BJP alliance from power after a gap 16 years.
Replying to a question arising out of the practised by the Shiv Sena and its offhsoot MNS, Chavan said: “My indication is that two groups (Muslims and north-Indian migrants based in Mumbai) are hundred per cent with us. That is a factor but I do not want to indulge in caste and communal politics”.
Having played a key role in hammering out a “strategic” alliance with his party’s ruling ally NCP, Chavan said: “This is for the first time that we (Congress and NCP) - after having contested 1999 Assembly polls separately and formed an alliance after the elections - are contesting the polls as an alliance in five municipal corporations. ..We took a very conscious decision that we must avoid division of secular votes in order to oust the likes of Shiv Sena and BJP from the BMC”.
“The BMC’s annual budget, I am told, is larger than that 17 smaller states in the country. So it is obvious that Mumbai which feeds Shiv Sena (a “fascist” party) to its expansion other parts of the state and in some parts of the country,” he said, adding the DF was determined to snap this feeder-line called the BMC.
“My real worry is; will there be a hung situation? I do not think so. But the possibility has to be always looked at,” said a trifle anxious Chavan.
Chavan, however, hastened to added, “I do not think there will there be a hung House. Because if you look at the logic of the last elections, the total vote share of the Congress and NCP (which had then contested the BMC poll separately) had added up to 132. Hence, getting a simple majority of 114 seats in the 227-member BMC should not be difficult and survey reports also indicate that”.
Talking to a select group of mediapersons, Chavan candidly admitted that the presence of MNS support base, which has widened markedly since the 2007 BMC poll, would benefit the Congress-led DF, given that the Raj Thackeray-led party would into the Sena-BJP alliance votes as it did in the past.
“Earlier the Shiv Sena had a larger share compared to MNS. That same number of votes, if shared by two parties more equally, then such a situation will help us. The question is whether the MNS will take a whole lot of NCP votes or Congress votes or a whole lot of Sena votes,” Chavan explained.
According to Chavan, the Congress’ surveys show that MNS’ polling percentages have gone up but not enough to make them winners. “If the MNS’ polling percentage is higher, it will help us. This is because the MNS takes away votes primarily from the Sena vote bank. The gap between the Congress and Shiv Sena will further increase, if the Sena vote share goes down,” he says. Asked if he would seek the MNS’ support, Chavan categorically said, “No”.
However, he indicated that he was not averse to taking the help of the Samajwadi Party, given the likely post-poll events in Uttar Pradesh.
Conceding that RPI(A)’s president Ramdas Athvale’s decision to align with the Sena-BJP alliance would have a negative impact on the Congress-NCP, Chavan said, “Athavale will be a negative factor for us. Because, the Sena-BJP alliance did not have this kind of an alliance earlier. I have serious doubts that Dalits are motivated by Athvale’s decision and that the community will entirely go with the Sena. We also have parallel alliances with Dalit parties in place like the one with Jogendra Kavade”.
Chavan has huge stakes in the February 16 poll to BMC, where he has made it prestige issue to dislodge the Sena-BJP alliance from power after a gap 16 years.
Replying to a question arising out of the practised by the Shiv Sena and its offhsoot MNS, Chavan said: “My indication is that two groups (Muslims and north-Indian migrants based in Mumbai) are hundred per cent with us. That is a factor but I do not want to indulge in caste and communal politics”.
Having played a key role in hammering out a “strategic” alliance with his party’s ruling ally NCP, Chavan said: “This is for the first time that we (Congress and NCP) - after having contested 1999 Assembly polls separately and formed an alliance after the elections - are contesting the polls as an alliance in five municipal corporations. ..We took a very conscious decision that we must avoid division of secular votes in order to oust the likes of Shiv Sena and BJP from the BMC”.
“The BMC’s annual budget, I am told, is larger than that 17 smaller states in the country. So it is obvious that Mumbai which feeds Shiv Sena (a “fascist” party) to its expansion other parts of the state and in some parts of the country,” he said, adding the DF was determined to snap this feeder-line called the BMC.
