Though no alliance constituents have joined hands for upcoming Nagar Panchayat and Municipal Council polls in all places, they are contesting some seats jointly. But, in all, nobody has allied with Ajit Pawar faction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), an indicator that the party is isolated post-Parth Pawar and the judgement regarding senior party leader Nawab Malik.

 

A lot of hype is being made inside political circles and outside it that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is keeping Shinde Sena group at a distance. In fact, a strong reaction came when Maharashtra Government gave management of Balasaheb Thackeray Smarak Trust to Uddhav Thackeray. Everyone said, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis did it deliberately to sideline the Deputy Chief Minister and Sena Shinde chief Eknath Shinde. But it proved to be joint strategy of both groups to woo the voters for BMC polls, the most important one in State. This will surely hit the sentiments of Shiv Sena followers.

 

At some places, BJP supported Shinde Sena group or at least fielded not-so formidable candidate against them.. It did not do the same with its third constituent led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. No party attempted to make it an ally in any place in Nagpur district. Apart from the scam that is haunting NCP, it did not endeavour to strengthen itself in Vidarbha. In Nagpur, on the last occasion, Prashant Pawar, its city President openly expressed his feelings as to they are being sidelined by their own ministers. He was removed from the Presidentship. Similarly, for the same reason, Baba Gujar, the District President resigned. He was accommodated in the State body but that failed to soothe his feelings about party’s functioning. On the other hand, the Sharad Pawar group restructured itself in every region. It surely suffered setback in Assembly polls, but it fared better in Lok Sabha. In local body polls, their top leaders in Nagpur region viz former minister Anil Deshmukh and Ramesh Bang distributed the responsibilities. Except Kamptee, to some extent, this group is doing well in all other talukas. Youth leader of NCP Sharad Pawar group Shailendra Tiwari said, “Our leader Pawarsaheb asked us to rebuild everything without giving much thought to who left. We focussed on who are with us right now. Apart from compromising with our own constituents, we have tried to join hands with several smaller parties like Republican groups, Aam Aadmi Party, Vanchit Bahujan, Gondwana Gantantra Party, etc. This has strengthened our position.” District President of NCP Sharad Pawar group Pravin Kunte said, “We are focussed on our restructuring which we did. We were ready to go solo or with our constituents. There is no miscommunication, misunderstanding, differences among our constituents and within party. We are very clear in our approach, and that helped us to take decisions during the current polls.”