The Congress and the NCP are allies both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, with an uneasy arrangement keeping the clock ticking. However, the two parties have been unable to keep this arrangement going at the grassroots level.

The rift between workers of the two parties has been widening ever since the NCP tied up with saffron parties to gain control of local civic bodies. The party’s Pune model—when it forged a post-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena and sought the covert support of the BJP to come to power in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) last year—has inspired the NCP to try it again for the upcoming Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation polls.

The NCP has a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, the Janata Dal (S) and the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) for the civic elections while the Congress is contesting on its own. The NCP’s alliance with the BJP for the civic polls in Sangli is led by state Finance Minister Jayant Patil.

“Those in alliance with us at Centre and the state have been joining hands with saffron parties to suppress the Congress at the local level. Party workers should be careful,” said Margaret Alva, AICC general secretary and in charge of party affairs in the state.

State Congress chief Prabha Rau too said, “I have repeatedly pointed out to the party high command that the NCP has been harassing Congress workers at local levels through out the state.” The “so called” ally rides on the popularity of the Congress but ditches it at the local level, she said.

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