Barring 1,all NCP corporators skip Cong campaign in Chinchwad

As Bhausaheb Bhoir,the Congress candidate,moves around the Chinchwad assembly constituency,party leaders and workers shout slogans in his favour.

As Bhausaheb Bhoir,the Congress candidate,moves around the Chinchwad assembly constituency,party leaders and workers shout slogans in his favour. Conspicuous by their absence are the corporators belonging to the Congresss alliance partner,the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Except for Azam Pansare,president of the NCPs Pimpri-Chinchwad unit,not a single corporator from the NCP has turned up to campaign for Bhoir.

A somewhat crestfallen Bhoir concedes his campaign has been bereft of NCP support. NCP corporators have not been coming for my election campaign. They are not following the spirit of the alliance. Many of them are saying their senior leaders have told them to stay away from my campaign. But I dont think senior leaders,including Ajit Pawar,might have told them that. In fact,NCP leaders have promised to take action against those campaigning for candidates other than belonging to the alliance partners, says Bhoir. Congress leaders fear that if NCP does not take action against those supporting rebel leader Laxman Jagtap,it will be difficult to swing things in favour of the official candidate.

The NCP is expected to act fast,otherwise the Congress candidate will suffer, says Congress leader Babu Nair. However,he hastens to add that a similar trend is being witnessed in Bhosari,where the official NCP candidate is getting little support from their own party corporators.

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NCP rebel candidate Vilas Lande has the support of 22 corporators while official candidate Mangala Kadam has the support of only a handful of them. The NCP is a divided house in Pimpri-Chinchwad. So,the Congress and the NCP can do little, says Nair. One of the reasons for the NCP corporators fighting shy of campaigning for Bhoir could also be the fact that in the next two years,there will be civic elections. In the past elections,the NCP and Congress corporator-aspirants had fought against each other and a similar situation will emerge in future as well, he emphasises.

When contacted,Pansare conceded that few NCP corporators are pitching in their support for Bhoir. What can I say? It was all published in the papers that Pimpri-Chinchwad mayor was campaigning openly for NCP rebel Laxman Jagtap. Yet,no action has been taken so far. You should ask our senior leaders about this, he said. On the other hand,the mayor too acknowledged she has not been campaigning in Chinchwad constituency.

I know other NCP corporators are also not campaigning for Bhoir. Everybody I think is looking at their political convenience. I am also a bit embarrassed. On one hand,I have my own party colleague who has supported me all along and on the other hand,we have to abide by the spirit of the alliance. As a way out,I have decided not to campaign in Chinchwad and instead focus on Bhosari and Pimpri assembly constituencies.

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