Gondia Zilla Parishad: NCP joins hands with BJP for polls, Patole says Pawar’s party stabbed Congress in the back

BJP’s Pankaj Rahangdale has been elected as the president and NCP’s Yashwant Gunvir as the vice-president of the Gondia Zilla Parishad. Rahangdale, who polled 40 votes, defeated Congress’ Usha Mendhe, who got 13 votes.

Gunvir, meanwhile, trounced Jitendra Katre of the Congress.

In the 53-member Gondia Zilla Parishad, there are 26 BJP members, 13 from Congress, six from NCP, four from Janata ki Party and two independents.

“Despite being in an alliance, the NCP encroached on Congress in Malegaon, Bhiwandi and several other places. Yesterday, the NCP joined hands with the BJP in the Gondia Zilla Parishad to elect the president. They have stabbed Congress in the back,” Patole told mediapersons.

He added that the Congress high command will be apprised about NCP’s “machinations” of the last two-and-a-half years in the forthcoming Udaipur conclave.

Patole said friendship should be maintained with all honesty and that “an enemy attacking openly from the front is better”.

He said the MVA, which includes Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, was formed to keep the BJP out of power.

The NCP had earlier “encroached upon” the Congress in Malegaon and Bhiwandi despite being in an alliance, which proves that NCP considers Congress as its rival, he added.

“MVA partners Jayant Patil (NCP), Subhash Desai (Shiv Sena) and myself had decided that efforts should be made to ensure that maximum zilla parishads stay with the MVA,” Patole said.

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“Breaking the MVA alliance code, the NCP on Tuesday joined hands with rival BJP to elect the president of the Gondia Zilla Parishad, keeping the Congress away from power with the backing of Independents and a local outfit.”

Responding to Patole’s charge, Maharashtra NCP president and Minister Jayant Patil denied the allegation.

He added that NCP always wants the three MVA constituents to remain together.

“There may be some problem in local leaders of NCP and Congress coming together at the local level due to differences in opinions. We will go into details of this,” Jayant Patil added.