In a major boost for former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, whohad to resign in the wake of the Adarsh scam, the Congress on Monday swept thepolls at the Nanded Waghala Municipal Corporation by winning 41 of the 81seats.
The Congress and NCP “ which are partners in the DemocraticFront government in Maharashtra “ had contested separately and the campaigningsaw leaders of both the parties criticising each other.
Since 2010, Chavan was virtually sidelined after his allegedrole in the Adarsh scandal. Earlier this year, he was charge-sheeted by the CBIin the Adarsh case.
Nanded is the home constituency of Chavan and the polls wereconsidered crucial for his political future. Chavan has been looking atconsolidating his position in Nanded and the larger Marathwada region to fillthe leadership vacuum created in Congress following Vilasrao Deshkmukh'sdemise.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Industries MinisterNarayan Rane and other senior Congress leaders had campaigned for the Congress.NCP leader Ajit Pawar had also held a rally during the campaign. Its campaignwitnessed a road show by Sena executive president Udhhav Thackeray’s son AdityaThackeray.
Chavan led the Congress to a simple majority in the81-member NWCMC and extracted a sweet revenge on the NCP, by giving a sounddrubbing to the Sharad Pawar-led party that had made the Adarsh scam an issuein the poll.
Despite its claims of doing better than it did in the 2007elections, the NCP won a mere 10 seats in the poll“ the same number of seats ithad won in the previous poll. While the Shiv Sena won 14 seats, its alliancepartner BJP bagged two seats.
The Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM), a Hyderabad-basedpolitical party which made its electoral debut in the erstwhile Nizam-ruledtown of Nanded, sprang a surprise by winning as many as 11 out of 23 seats inthe NWCMC poll. The MIM, which enjoyed the support of large sections of Muslimsin Nanded town, made vast inroads into the Congress’ traditional Muslimstrongholds, thus contributing to the debacle of at least 10 candidates fromthe ruling party.
In an election where the Congress was pitted directlyagainst the NCP and his rivals tore him apart over his alleged role in theAdarsh scam, Chavan had his way by harping on the development works done by hisparty for Nanded towns. However, local Congress targeted the NCP on the allegedinvolvement of its leaders in the multi-thousand crore irrigation scam in thestate.
In the high-profile electioneering witnessed ahead onSunday’s civic poll, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Industries MinisterNarayan Rane were among those who campaigned for the Congress, while the NCP’sformer deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his party president Madhukar Pichadparticipated in the campaign.
Having made the Nanded civic poll as a prestige issue,Chavan had a reason more than a reason to be relieved over the outcome.
