After the elections in some municipal bodies in Maharashtra, BJP has reportedly formed an alliance with its opposition parties Congress and AIMIM. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has rejected such alliances and said that action will be taken against the party leaders involved in it.
After the municipal elections held last month, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had formed an alliance with the Congress and Ajit Pawar’s NCP in the Ambernath Municipal Council. This alliance was named ‘Ambernath Vikas Aghadi’ and BJP’s ally Shiv Sena was excluded from it.
Similarly, in Akot Municipal Council of Akola district, the BJP formed an alliance with All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) and some other parties.
Chief Minister Fadnavis clearly said that such alliances do not have the approval of the top leadership of the party and it is against discipline. He said that no alliance with Congress or AIMIM would be accepted and action would be taken against those who did so.
On this, Shiv Sena (Ubhatha) MP Sanjay Raut said that the incidents of Akot and Ambernath show that BJP can join hands with anyone for power.
It is noteworthy that the state has a grand alliance government of BJP, Ajit Pawar led NCP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.
In Ambernath, Shiv Sena had emerged as the largest party by winning 27 seats, but was a little short of the majority. Meanwhile, BJP (14), Congress (12) and NCP (4) formed an alliance and achieved majority.
BJP’s Tejashree Karanjule Patil was elected president of the Municipal Council. Shiv Sena described this alliance as “immoral and opportunistic”.
In Akot, BJP formed ‘Akot Vikas Manch’ with several parties including AIMIM. BJP won 11 seats and AIMIM won five seats. With the support of other parties, the alliance achieved majority. Maya Dhule of BJP was elected mayor. Congress and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi remained in opposition here.