A senior functionary of the Congress in Maharashtra on Friday stated the state leadership need to take significant note of 18 corporators of the celebration in Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation joining the ally NCP.
Vinayakrao Deshmukh, the state Congress basic secretary, stated in an open letter to celebration workers that this was a wake-up contact.
Eighteen Congress corporators such as deputy mayor of Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation joined the NCP on Wednesday in the presence of senior NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil.
“Wake up or the situation would go out of hand. The party cannot be just content with being a partner in the Maha Vikas Aghadi and getting ministerial berths,” he stated.
While the Shiv Sena has bagged the chief minister’s post, the NCP also is aggressive, Deshmukh stated.
“Congress workers in the state are restless. NCP leaders (recently) told their cadres to adjust with Shiv Sena and then inducted Congress corporatorsin the party. This is not just a coincidence,” he stated.
Earlier, some Shiv Sena councilors in Parnerin Ahmednagar district had joined the Sharad Pawar-led celebration but they later returned to the Sena’s fold, Deshmukh noted.
“It was decided that defection between allies should be discouraged. Why should then Congress corporators be inducted in the NCP?” he asked.
State celebration leadership need to demand answers from the allies in the coordination committee otherwise the Congress would finish up being the “biggest loser” in the ruling alliance, Deshmukh stated.
Meanwhile, a senior Shiv Sena leader stated the Congress corporators left the celebration since of a factional feud in the nearby unit.
“They had approached us but we did not respond. If the NCP had not admitted them in the party, they would have joined the BJP,” he claimed.