The tug-of-war between the Congress and NCP over the issue of which party would emerge as the leader in the alliance in the 2014 Assembly elections, continued on Tuesday after Congress’ claim for the top spot fell flat.
Local poll results belie MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre’s claim that the Congress had sweeping victories in most of the 4,115 gram panchayats and hence, was deserving of a greater share in the alliance. Results at 298 gram panchayats in the Satara district shows that NCP won at 197 places, as against Congress, which secured only 70 villages. Incidentally, Satara is the home district of CM Prithviraj Chavan.
NCP was way ahead of the Congress in most of the talukas in the Satara district; exceptions to these were Karad taluka, where Congress won all the 24 villages and Man, where Congress won 19 seats as against NCP, which won eight. At Satara proper, NCP won 39 out of the 40 gram panchayats.
NCP has also done well in the municipalities, municipal councils, nagar parishads, etc.
A senior NCP leader said, “We have more mayors than any other party (nine), more chairpersons at zilla parishads and most presidents at municipal councils and nagar parishads.”
While NCP has not openly spoken about severing ties with the Congress at any stage, NCP’s steady success could prove fatal for the Congress, political observers have said.