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Shortly after Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress party factions decided to unite for contesting the upcoming Pune Municipal Corporation polls on Tuesday, NCP-SCP leader Ankush Kakade on Tuesday said that the Maha Vikas Agadhi partners, along with the temporarily united NCP will be deciding on a "seat sharing formula" soon.
"Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar and Nationalist Congress Party- Ajit Pawar have decided to contest the upcoming municipal elections together," the NCP-SCP leader told ANI. Kakade said they will hold talks with the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) as well. "We have a meeting with our other partners this afternoon. No discussions have been held on seat sharing. We will speak with Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), and all four parties will meet to discuss the seat-sharing formula. Ajit Pawar's faction and our faction's ideology are the same," he said. When questioned about whether Ajit Pawar would join MVA, he said that both parties have a united ideological stance, but nothing is certain about what Ajit Pawar will do. "What happens in the future, I don't know. What Ajit Pawar does, I don't know, but our ideology is the same as Phule and Ambedkar," he said. However, there is speculation about unrest and internal divisions within the NCP-SCP following the decision to extend the temporary truce, with Prashant Jagtap, the party's Pune President, offering his resignation to the leadership if the alliance proceeds. "From this day, work for the PMC elections has started. Till now, we have not had any discussion about whether we will fight as the MVA alliance or any other alliance. But we want to fight in MVA. Our leader, Supriya Sule, has called me from Mumbai, and I will make my final decision after that. I believe that we should go as a good opposition party to Pune's people and fight against the BJP, that is my proposal," Prashant Jagtap had said in a self-made video. On the internal disagreement, Kakade said that he hopes Jagtap stays with the party. "Talks are going on with (Supriya) Sule ji, we hope that Prashant Jagtap stays with us too," Kakade said. This coming together of NCP factions marks a significant turn in Maharashtra politics, as it is the first time both parties will contest an election together since Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar broke away from the NCP, led by his uncle Sharad Pawar, in 2023. The Maharashtra State Election Commission has announced elections to 29 municipal corporations across the state, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Polling will be held on January 15, with counting scheduled for January 16. (ANI)
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