Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is spearheading an aggressive campaign for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of the crucial January 15 election to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). This comes a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the BJP and NCP would engage in a "friendly" contest in the polls for the civic body, once considered Ajit Pawar's bastion.
Marathon Meetings and Ground Assessment
On Tuesday, Ajit Pawar conducted an intensive review of his party's preparations, holding marathon meetings with office-bearers from 7 am to 7 pm. Yogesh Behl, the city president of NCP's Pimpri Chinchwad unit, revealed that Pawar assessed the groundwork being carried out across all 32 wards of the corporation. Earlier, on Monday evening, Pawar had confidently told reporters, "I will make every effort to ensure that NCP returns to power in the civic body."
Strategic Inductions from Rival Camps
In a significant political move on Tuesday, Pawar welcomed five former corporators into the NCP fold. This development is notable as it comes against the backdrop of an earlier understanding among Mahayuti alliance partners to avoid poaching each other's workers. The new entrants include Seema Sawale (BJP), a former standing committee chairperson, Ashwini Jadhav (BJP), Sadhana Malekar (BJP), Pramod Kute (Shiv Sena), and Sachin Bhosale (Shiv Sena-UBT), who was also his former party's city president.
Several other aspirants joined the NCP on the same day, including Rupali Alhat, Tushar Sahane, and Netaji Kashid, all from Shiv Sena (UBT). These individuals had narrowly lost the 2017 civic polls. Commenting on the inductions, Behl stated that Tuesday's meetings were intended for party workers and that the aspirants approached the NCP independently. "They felt insecure in their earlier parties and believed they could win the upcoming election on an NCP ticket," he explained. Behl further claimed that seven to eight more former corporators from BJP and Shiv Sena are in touch with the NCP and are likely to be inducted soon.
Reclaiming a Lost Bastion
Pimpri Chinchwad was long considered an NCP stronghold, especially under Ajit Pawar's leadership. The party governed the civic body for nearly two decades before suffering a defeat to the BJP in the 2017 elections. In that poll, the BJP secured a commanding 77 seats, while the NCP trailed with 36 seats. The shift was partly attributed to former Pawar loyalists, the late Laxman Jagtap and Mahesh Landge, who joined the BJP ahead of the election and played a key role in its victory.
Amidst these preparations, sources indicate that Ajit Pawar is also in talks with his uncle Sharad Pawar's faction to explore a potential alliance. Furthermore, local Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders from Pimpri Chinchwad formally presented him with a proposal on Tuesday, urging him to join the bloc to collectively take on the BJP.
The upcoming PCMC election is shaping up to be a critical test for Ajit Pawar's NCP as it seeks to reclaim its political dominance in the twin city, whose development is widely credited to his earlier initiatives.
