Pune: Cong asks NCP to decide

A day after the results of the 10 Municipal Corporations were declared, hectic activity has started for control of Pune and Solapur civic bodies, where NCP and Congress respectively have emerged as the single largest party and can bag power together.

"We have left it to the Nationalist Congress Party to choose whether they want our support or would prefer to align with communal forces," state Congress spokesperson Husain Dalwai said. The only hitch is that the two parties fought the Pune civic battle separately and there was a lot of bad blood between leaders of the two parties in the run-up to the polls.

The acrimony between NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi was the talk of the entire poll campaign.

While the NCP has bagged 42, Congress got 35 of the total 144 seats in the Pune Corporation. Asked when would the two parties sit and discuss the Pune issue, Dalwai said, "We are waiting for a response from NCP."

In Solapur, Congress with 40 of the 98 seats, has emerged the leader. It can rule the civic body with support of independents, most of them Congress rebels and Jan Surajya Party. A decision on whether NCP would support Congress in Solapur is expected at a meeting in Mumbai, a local Congress leader said.