MUMBAI: The ongoing talks between Congress and NCP for an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly polls received a jolt because of the Congress’s decision to join hands with BJP for elections to the posts of Gondia zilla parishad president and vicepresident.

Though NCP secured 20 seats, followed by BJP (17) and Congress (16), BJP supported Congress nominee Seema Madavi, who was elected president, while Congress backed BJP candidate Hamit Akbar Ali, who became vice-president. This was the second time in succession that BJP supported a Congress nominee for the president’s post and Congress supported a BJP member for the vice-president’s post. Apparently, Gondia Congress legislator Gopal Agarwal had taken the lead in forging an alliance with BJP. Agarwal declined to comment.

State Congress president Ashok Chavan said bitterness between Congress and NCP in Gondia district is well-known, and efforts for a patch-up between Agarwal and NCP leader Praful Patel did not succeed. “We do not subscribe to the alliance,” Chavan told TOI. While state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare expressed strong displeasure over the Congress-BJP alliance, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said his party did not approve of the alliance. “It was an arrangement at the local level, Congress will never approve of such an alliance. The state Congress has called for a report f rom its observers Vijay Wadettiwar and Harshawardhan Sapkal on the circumstances under which Congress joined hands with BJP,” Sawant said.

He pointed out that NCP too has joined hands with BJP in the Gadchiroli, Wardha, Yavatmal and Chandrapur zilla parishads. “It’s not a good sign, particularly when Congress and NCP are in talks for an alliance to defeat BJP and Shiv Sena in the LS and assembly polls,” he said.

Recently, Sharad Pawar and Ashok Chavan had expressed a strong desire to have a Cong-NCP alliance. Chavan had told TOI talks were in progress.

A former minister said that a section of senior Congress leaders recently called on Congress president Rahul Gandhi to press for a Cong-NCP alliance. Apparently, Gandhi is in favour of an alliance, sources said. “We proposed to Rahul Gandhi that while candidates could be decided at a later stage, a decision on seat- sharing should be taken as early as possible so that the two parties can launch their campaign,” the ex-minister said.

