Daijiworld Media Network - Chandrapur
Chandrapur, Feb 11: The Congress suffered a major setback in the Chandrapur Municipal Corporation on Tuesday after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Sangeeta Khandekar was elected mayor by a single vote with the support of the Shiv Sena (UBT), defeating Congress candidate Vaishali Mahadule.
In a surprising turn, Sena (UBT) corporator Prashant Danav was elected deputy mayor with the backing of the BJP.
The outcome came as a shock for the Congress and Sena (UBT), which are alliance partners at the state level under the Maha Vikas Aghadi, along with the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Chandrapur is among the few municipal corporations in Maharashtra where the Congress had emerged as the single largest party. The party won 27 seats in the 66-member civic body, while the BJP secured 23 seats, making 34 votes crucial to secure the mayoral and deputy mayoral posts.
In the January 15 civic polls, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) won six seats, Bharatiya Shetkari Kamgar Paksh (Janvikas Sena) and Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) secured two seats each, while AIMIM, BSP and Shiv Sena won one seat each. Two Independents were also elected, with results declared the following day.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said the party was expecting support from Sena (UBT) and VBA. “The magic number of 34 was required for a majority. Congress had 27 seats along with the support of two Independents and the BSP corporator. However, AIMIM did not support us and VBA corporators were not present. We expected Shiv Sena (UBT) to vote for us, but that did not happen. VBA wanted the mayor’s post. Our strategy also went wrong while nominating candidates. Otherwise, we could have secured 30 to 40 votes. We apologise to the people of Chandrapur who voted for us,” he said.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal alleged horse-trading and blamed the Shiv Sena (UBT), AIMIM and VBA for the defeat.
Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve, meanwhile, said the developments appeared to have taken place without the approval of the party’s top leadership.