President of Nashik Zila Parishad from Shiv Sena with Congress, CPI(M) support

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena, Congress and the CPM have joined hands to share power in the Nashik Zilla Parishad. A Shiv Sena zilla parishad member Sheetal Sangle became the president on Tuesday with the support of 24 other Sena members and also Congress (8) and CPM (3). Nayna Gavit of the Congress became the vice-president.

The Sena in Nashik did not take the support of the BJP, which has 15 members. It chose to go with the Congress. The BJP in turn went with the NCP to field their own candidate.

After the election of Sangle and Gavit, the two wore saffron headgear and supporters raised slogans praising Sena founder late Bal Thackeray and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Sena and the Communists are arch-rivals and fought for supremacy in Mumbai and some other cities in a series of bloody battles in the 1960s and 1970s that revolved around powerful personalities like Bal Thackeray.

Nashik is however, not the only place where such strange alliances have happened. In Jalna, the NCP and the Sena have joined hands to come to power while in Yavatmal the BJP has joined hands with the Congress and the NCP sidelining the Shiv Sena, which was the single largest party there.

In Amravati, the Congress has secured the ZP President’s post after tying up with the NCP and Shiv Sena. In Aurangabad, the Shiv Sena has come to power with the help of the Congress. In Buldhana the BJP taken the support of the NCP to snatch power.