<p>Five corporations of Maharashtra -- Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar and Kolhapur -- would go to polls soon. This would be a sort of curtain-raiser for the 2022 mega municipal polls during which Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.</p>.<p>Buoyed by the performance in the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, that was swept by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), it needs to be seen whether the there parties -- Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress -- forge an alliance to take on the BJP in this year’s elections in five corporations.</p>.<p>However, the MVA partners seem to be waiting for the outcome of mid-January gram panchayat polls. The polls are very significant as 14,234 Gram Panchayats – which is nearly 50 per cent of the total 27,920 gram panchayats – would go to elections on January 15.</p>.<p>Though the State Election Commission is yet to announce the date to elections of five corporations, senior leaders of the MVA feel that a formal pre-poll alliance would be able to test the combined strength of the three parties.</p>.<p>Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president and state’s revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat has appointed a 13-member election management committee for municipal corporation elections in Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar and Kolhapur.</p>.<p>"If all the three parties come together, it is not difficult to defeat the BJP,” a senior Congress leader said adding, that the aspirations of local leaders and grassroot workers are to be taken into consideration.</p>.<p>The Sharad Pawar-led NCP is already looking at a long-term association with the Shiv Sena, extending it beyond the scope of the MVA government.</p>.<p>NCP’s recent move of poaching 18 Congress corporators in the Bhiwandi-Nizampur civic body has upset the state Congress leadership. Thorat and state public works minister Ashok Chavan has time and again raised the issue of Congress being ignored on several issues.</p>.<p>The recent letter by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Thackeray reminding him of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the MVA <em>vis-à-vis </em>welfare programme related to Dalits and Adivasis – has come as a shock in MVA circles. Congress has also expressed unhappiness for Shiv Sena repeatedly projecting the name of Pawar as UPA chairperson.</p>.<p>“There are issues that need to be sorted out ahead of the corporation polls as 2022 elections would be a sort of referendum for the government,” a political observer said.</p>
<p>Five corporations of Maharashtra -- Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar and Kolhapur -- would go to polls soon. This would be a sort of curtain-raiser for the 2022 mega municipal polls during which Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.</p>.<p>Buoyed by the performance in the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, that was swept by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), it needs to be seen whether the there parties -- Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress -- forge an alliance to take on the BJP in this year’s elections in five corporations.</p>.<p>However, the MVA partners seem to be waiting for the outcome of mid-January gram panchayat polls. The polls are very significant as 14,234 Gram Panchayats – which is nearly 50 per cent of the total 27,920 gram panchayats – would go to elections on January 15.</p>.<p>Though the State Election Commission is yet to announce the date to elections of five corporations, senior leaders of the MVA feel that a formal pre-poll alliance would be able to test the combined strength of the three parties.</p>.<p>Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president and state’s revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat has appointed a 13-member election management committee for municipal corporation elections in Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar and Kolhapur.</p>.<p>"If all the three parties come together, it is not difficult to defeat the BJP,” a senior Congress leader said adding, that the aspirations of local leaders and grassroot workers are to be taken into consideration.</p>.<p>The Sharad Pawar-led NCP is already looking at a long-term association with the Shiv Sena, extending it beyond the scope of the MVA government.</p>.<p>NCP’s recent move of poaching 18 Congress corporators in the Bhiwandi-Nizampur civic body has upset the state Congress leadership. Thorat and state public works minister Ashok Chavan has time and again raised the issue of Congress being ignored on several issues.</p>.<p>The recent letter by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Thackeray reminding him of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the MVA <em>vis-à-vis </em>welfare programme related to Dalits and Adivasis – has come as a shock in MVA circles. Congress has also expressed unhappiness for Shiv Sena repeatedly projecting the name of Pawar as UPA chairperson.</p>.<p>“There are issues that need to be sorted out ahead of the corporation polls as 2022 elections would be a sort of referendum for the government,” a political observer said.</p>
