Flags of BJP and Congress.
Credit: PTI File Photos
Mumbai: The Congress on Thursday said it had suspended its councillors for a tie-up with the BJP in the Ambernath Municipal Council, but the saffron party failed to take action against its own leaders who initiated the alliance, showing its double standards.
Following the local polls held on December 20, the BJP joined hands with its arch-rival, Congress, under the banner of 'Ambernath Vikas Aghadi' (AVA) to form the Ambernath Municipal Council leadership (in Thane district), sidelining ally Shiv Sena, which emerged as the single largest party. The Aghadi also includes Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Left red-faced with the awkward arrangement, the Congress on Wednesday suspended its 12 newly elected councillors along with the block president.
The 12 suspended councillors joined the BJP late Wednesday night, as per Maharashtra party president Ravindra Chavan.
State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the BJP, which repeatedly speaks of a "Congress-free India", exposed its "hypocrisy and double standards" by not acting against its councillors even after it was revealed that the offer to form the AVA had come from the saffron outfit itself.
On the BJP joining hands with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM in the Akot Municipal Council in Akola district, Sawant drew parallels with the pre-Independence period when the Hindu Mahasabha had shared power with the Muslim League in several regions.
"This once again proves that the agendas of extremist forces are complementary to each other," he charged.
The Congress had long maintained that the BJP and AIMIM worked together behind the scenes, and their political proximity has now come into the open, Sawant said.
"The people have now understood how polarisation is deliberately engineered," he said, claiming the BJP was willing to compromise on principles, morality and ideology for the sake of power.
State BJP president Ravindra Chavan has issued a show-cause notice to their Akot MLA Prakash Bharsakhale over the alliance with AIMIM in the Akot Municipal Council.