Congress Likely to Contest Pune Civic Polls Alone; Party’s City Chief Arvind Shinde Vows To ‘Expose BJP’s 8-Year Corruption’

With the Supreme Court directing the Maharashtra government to hold municipal elections within four months, political activity has picked up in Pune. While currently there are two alliances in the state, each consisting of three parties – Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – it is uncertain whether they will contest the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) polls together.

Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Congress’s Pune City Chief, Arvind Shinde, said that the grand old party is likely to go solo in the PMC polls. “As of now, we are planning to fight individually. The party workers have been serving the people for a long time. Therefore, our priority will be to give them a free hand in the PMC polls. However, the final decision will be taken by senior leaders of the party about whether the Congress will join hands with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena or not,” said Shinde.

He added that the priority of the party, in the lead-up to the polls, is to “expose the corruption done by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last eight years” and let people know about it.

In the 2017 PMC polls, the BJP triumphed over the undivided NCP, tripling its seat-share from the polls in 2012. The saffron party, however, fell short of achieving a full majority as it notched up victories in 99 seats. The undivided NCP won 42 seats. The Raj Thackeray-led MNS was virtually decimated as it emerged as the biggest loser in the polls, with the party’s seat-share falling to just two. The undivided Shiv Sena and Congress got 10 seats each. The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won one seat, and Independents got four.

For the uninitiated, the undivided NCP held power in the PMC from 2007 to 2017.