02-03-2007, 03:10 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Resurgent saffron retains Mumbai </b>
Pioneer.com
TN Raghunatha | Mumbai
Setback for Congress in rest of Maharashtra
Silencing its critics, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance on Friday succeeded in retaining its control over its stronghold municipal corporations of Mumbai and the neighbouring Thane, while it was showing sure signs of capturing power in the civic bodies of Nagpur and Ulhasnagar from among the 10 civic bodies that went to polls on Thursday.
In an extremely significant political outcome, ageing Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his much-criticised son-cum-party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray redeemed themselves by holding on to the civic bodies of Mumbai and Thane, the two cities from where the Sena has derived a major share of its strength ever since it was founded in 1966. Â
The Sena's alliance partner, BJP (read its State party president Nitin Gadkari), had something to celebrate for being in a position to snatch power from the hands of the Congress-led ruling dispensation, the civic body of Nagpur, the headquarters of the saffron ideology parent body RSS.
As the Shiv Sena (in alliance with the BJP) inched towards obtaining a similar majority in the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is the richest civic body in the country with an annual budget of Rs 12,000 crore, the happiest men were Sr Thackeray and his son Uddhav, who together stood vindicated that the Sena was still a force to reckon with in Mumbai and Thane, even after the dramatic exit of its senior leader Narayan Rane and their very own family member Raj. Rane and Raj had rebelled against the style of functioning of Uddhav, much to displeasure of a loving father in the Sena chief.
In the polls that saw the civic bodies of Pune, Nashik, Akola and Amravati produce fractured mandates, the ruling Congress and its ruling coalition partner in the state, NCP, paid a heavy price for their failure to forge a pre-poll alliance for the civic polls - a factor that proved to be a blessing in disguise for the saffron alliance, especially in Mumbai and Thane.
In their dismal failure to cash in on their status of being in power in the State, the ruling Democratic Front (DF) partners had a consolation each in these polls. For, the NCP managed to capture power on its own strength in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (which it earlier ruled in coalition with the Congress), while the Sonia Gandhi-led party looked poised to retain power in the civic body of Solapur, which incidentally is the hometown of Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
On its part, the NCP had something to regale even its foolhardy decision not to go with the Congress in the civic polls: it vastly expanded its base at Pune at the cost of the Congress. In a battle of egos waged between Pune strongman Suresh Kalmadi and Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar, the latter had the laugh - with the NCP winning as many as 42 seats (previous poll tally-24) and Congress settling down to a figure of 35, as against 64 seats held by it earlier in the 146-member Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Despite the fractured mandate, the NCP will in all likelihood call shots when it comes to forming the next ruling dispensation at the PMC. For both Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit who have been controlling the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body for the last one-and-a-half decades, having Pune civic body - which incidentally in the Maratha strongman's home district - is strategically important from the long term point of view.
Agreed. The civic poll outcome, which saw the Sena-BJP alliance return to power in the BMC, may not have any bearing on the stability of the DF Government in Maharashtra, led by the Congress-NCP combine, but the fact remains that the two ruling parties have a lot to learn from these polls.
Significant among the lessons to be learnt by them is that they will not be able to serve Mumbaikars in an effective manner they could have, had they fought the elections together and come to power in BMC at a time, when the country's commercial capital is undergoing a make-over by making use of vast sums of money allocated by the UPA administration at the Centre. Secondly, the Congress and the NCP will at best ruin each other in the long-run in their effort to expand their respective party bases, a thing that will not augur well for the two parties that have a similar ideology. Together, the two parties and their leaders should realise that they should end their turf war somewhere along the line.
The civic poll outcome should dwarf - albeit politically - Rane, an erstwhile Shiv Sainik-turned-senior State Congress minister Narayan Rane, whom Sr Thackeray called "ded futiya" (a man as tall as one and half feet), who had gone to town about eroding the strength of the Sena after a string of victories in the State Assembly polls that former Sena men return to the lower House of the State Legislature on a Congress ticket.
Parties
Shiv Sena+BJP Congress+NCP Others (including Raj Thackeray's MNS)
Mumbai------------110-----------87--------30
Thane-------------58------------40--------12
Nashik------------40------------38--------30
Ulhasnagar--------27------------20--------28
Pune--------------45------------77--------22
Pimpri-Chinchwad--13------------80--------12
Solapur-----------22------------54--------NA
Nagpur------------65------------40--------40
Akola-------------18------------30--------23
Amravati----------26------------39--------16
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Pioneer.com
TN Raghunatha | Mumbai
Setback for Congress in rest of Maharashtra
Silencing its critics, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance on Friday succeeded in retaining its control over its stronghold municipal corporations of Mumbai and the neighbouring Thane, while it was showing sure signs of capturing power in the civic bodies of Nagpur and Ulhasnagar from among the 10 civic bodies that went to polls on Thursday.
In an extremely significant political outcome, ageing Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his much-criticised son-cum-party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray redeemed themselves by holding on to the civic bodies of Mumbai and Thane, the two cities from where the Sena has derived a major share of its strength ever since it was founded in 1966. Â
The Sena's alliance partner, BJP (read its State party president Nitin Gadkari), had something to celebrate for being in a position to snatch power from the hands of the Congress-led ruling dispensation, the civic body of Nagpur, the headquarters of the saffron ideology parent body RSS.
As the Shiv Sena (in alliance with the BJP) inched towards obtaining a similar majority in the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is the richest civic body in the country with an annual budget of Rs 12,000 crore, the happiest men were Sr Thackeray and his son Uddhav, who together stood vindicated that the Sena was still a force to reckon with in Mumbai and Thane, even after the dramatic exit of its senior leader Narayan Rane and their very own family member Raj. Rane and Raj had rebelled against the style of functioning of Uddhav, much to displeasure of a loving father in the Sena chief.
In the polls that saw the civic bodies of Pune, Nashik, Akola and Amravati produce fractured mandates, the ruling Congress and its ruling coalition partner in the state, NCP, paid a heavy price for their failure to forge a pre-poll alliance for the civic polls - a factor that proved to be a blessing in disguise for the saffron alliance, especially in Mumbai and Thane.
In their dismal failure to cash in on their status of being in power in the State, the ruling Democratic Front (DF) partners had a consolation each in these polls. For, the NCP managed to capture power on its own strength in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (which it earlier ruled in coalition with the Congress), while the Sonia Gandhi-led party looked poised to retain power in the civic body of Solapur, which incidentally is the hometown of Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
On its part, the NCP had something to regale even its foolhardy decision not to go with the Congress in the civic polls: it vastly expanded its base at Pune at the cost of the Congress. In a battle of egos waged between Pune strongman Suresh Kalmadi and Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar, the latter had the laugh - with the NCP winning as many as 42 seats (previous poll tally-24) and Congress settling down to a figure of 35, as against 64 seats held by it earlier in the 146-member Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Despite the fractured mandate, the NCP will in all likelihood call shots when it comes to forming the next ruling dispensation at the PMC. For both Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit who have been controlling the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body for the last one-and-a-half decades, having Pune civic body - which incidentally in the Maratha strongman's home district - is strategically important from the long term point of view.
Agreed. The civic poll outcome, which saw the Sena-BJP alliance return to power in the BMC, may not have any bearing on the stability of the DF Government in Maharashtra, led by the Congress-NCP combine, but the fact remains that the two ruling parties have a lot to learn from these polls.
Significant among the lessons to be learnt by them is that they will not be able to serve Mumbaikars in an effective manner they could have, had they fought the elections together and come to power in BMC at a time, when the country's commercial capital is undergoing a make-over by making use of vast sums of money allocated by the UPA administration at the Centre. Secondly, the Congress and the NCP will at best ruin each other in the long-run in their effort to expand their respective party bases, a thing that will not augur well for the two parties that have a similar ideology. Together, the two parties and their leaders should realise that they should end their turf war somewhere along the line.
The civic poll outcome should dwarf - albeit politically - Rane, an erstwhile Shiv Sainik-turned-senior State Congress minister Narayan Rane, whom Sr Thackeray called "ded futiya" (a man as tall as one and half feet), who had gone to town about eroding the strength of the Sena after a string of victories in the State Assembly polls that former Sena men return to the lower House of the State Legislature on a Congress ticket.
Parties
Shiv Sena+BJP Congress+NCP Others (including Raj Thackeray's MNS)
Mumbai------------110-----------87--------30
Thane-------------58------------40--------12
Nashik------------40------------38--------30
Ulhasnagar--------27------------20--------28
Pune--------------45------------77--------22
Pimpri-Chinchwad--13------------80--------12
Solapur-----------22------------54--------NA
Nagpur------------65------------40--------40
Akola-------------18------------30--------23
Amravati----------26------------39--------16
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