Nagpur: In a move that has taken political circles by surprise, arch rivals Congress and BJP have joined hands to form the government in Gondia zilla parishad (ZP). In the past, BJP and NCP had allied in many local bodies but Congress and BJP always were in the rival camp. In the neighbouring Bhandara ZP, however, natural allies Congress and NCP have formed the government even though there were rumours of a Congress-BJP alliance here too.

Leaders of both BJP and Congress strangely maintained that it was not an alliance. While Congress claimed that NCP had backstabbed it, BJP said that it had allied with a breakaway group of Congress and not the party itself. NCP trashed these claims and slammed Congress for the opportunistic alliance. Sources in both parties, however, said that it was essentially an alliance against NCP ex-minister Praful Patel.

Gondia MLA Gopaldas Agrawal of Congress said that his party had decided to go it alone alone after NCP refused to withdraw its candidate for the post of vice-president. “Our state unit had told us to support NCP’s presidential candidate. In turn, they would support our vice-presidential candidate. However, at the eleventh hour, they refused to withdraw their nominee. We then decided to go it alone,” he told TOI.

“It was BJP which took initiative in extending support to our presidential candidate. We had to reciprocate and support their vice-president’s nominee,” Agrawal said, adding that it was an ‘unfortunate’ development.

The MLA further said that while Congress candidate Usha Mende had polled 33 votes, BJP candidate Rachna Gahane had polled only 30. “This shows that there is no alliance. We did not support BJP 100%,” Agrawal added.

Vinod Agrawal, Gondia district president of BJP, said that following the break up of Congress and NCP alliance, a major rift had developed in Congress. “We decided to support the breakaway group. After all, somebody has to form the government,” he said.

NCP MLC Rajendra Jain said that Congress’s state unit had clearly asked the local leaders to have an alliance with NCP. “The state leaders should find out what went wrong. Congress has sent a very wrong message to people, who had voted against BJP for its anti-farmer policies. On one hand, Congress leaders are staging agitations against BJP and on the other, they are forming government with it,” he said.

Sources in Bhandara Congress said that many Congress ZP members were in favour of an alliance with BJP but it did not materialize. “A Congress leader had held talks with BJP for the alliance. BJP had agreed to give us the post of president. However, the state unit forbade the alliance in the morning,” a source said.

BOX

THE POWER EQUATIONS

Gondia ZP

NCP | 20, BJP | 17, Cong | 16, Total | 53

Government | Congress and BJP

President | Usha Mende (Cong)

Vice-President | Rachna Gahane (BJP)

Gondia district panchayat samitis - BJP | 4, Cong | 3, NCP | 1

Bhandara ZP

Cong | 19, NCP | 15, BJP | 13, Ind | 4, SS | 1, Total | 52

Government | Congress and NCP

President | Bhagyashree Gillorkar (Cong)

Vice-President | Rajesh Dongre (NCP)

Bhandara district panchayat samitis – BJP | 2, BJP-Sena | 2, Cong-NCP | 3

