Civic polls: Congress & NCP eye tie-up; Shiv Sena awaits BJP's response

MUMBAI: With just a month to go for the civic polls in Kalyan-Dombivli and Kolhapur, the Congress and NCP are eyeing to join hands, just as the Shiv Sena expects a "positive response" from the BJP for a pre-poll alliance for the two municipal bodies.

The election in these two municipal corporations are scheduled to be held on November 1.

Maharashtra unit chief of Congress Ashok Chavan said his party is open for an alliance with the NCP, provided its local leadership is comfortable working with that party.

The state unit president of NCP Sunil Tatkare also said a "positive response" is expected from Congress for a pre-poll alliance.

"We have appointed a team of former party MPs Anand Paranjape, Sanjeev Naik and former City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) chairman Pramod Hindurao to have a dialogue with local party leaders and their counterparts from the Congress over the alliance for Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) election," Tatkare said.

According to Chavan, Congress has appointed former legislator Madhu Chavan, along with Prithviraj Sathe and former legislator Ashok Jadhav for negotiations with the NCP.

"Madhu Chavan, Pritviraj Sathe and Ashok Jadhav will be talking from our side just to see the possibility of alliances in both the municipal corporations. Everything depends on the ground situation and we are trying to gauge the feelings of local Congressmen and if they feel alliance should happen, we are open to it," Chavan said.

He, however, refused Congress has "no truck" with the Sena and BJP and there is "no question of an alliance" with them. "We are very very clear on this front," he added.

Meanwhile, senior Shiv Sena leader and Minister for Environment Ramdas Kadam said his party expects a positive response from the BJP for a pre-poll alliance for the ensuing civic polls.