By IANS,
Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party president and union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Sunday served an ultimatum on its Congress ally to finalise its plans for an alliance and seat-sharing for the forthcoming Mumbai civic polls by Monday.
Pawar’s deadline came at a party meeting held here Sunday afternoon, jolting the Congress which has yet to make up its mind on having an alliance with the NCP for the Feb 16 elections to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corportion (BMC).
The developments came a day after former union minister and city MP Gurudas Kamat adopted a strong anti-NCP stance over tie-up with the party (NCP), which put a spanner in the alliance.
The matter, which has been hanging fire since the past three days, continued unresolved leaders of both parties – ruling at the state-level – continued a war of words over the proposed alliance.
The Congress continued its internal parleys on the issue for the second consecutive but failed to hammer out any unanimous solution over the alliance issue.
On the other hand, the main opposition combine comprising Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Republican Party of India has virtually clicked an alliance, barring difference over a few of the 227 seats at stake in the BMC polls. The final decision is expected by mid-week.