சிவசேனா முஸ்லீம் கட்சி கூட்டணி

மலெகுவான் (சென்ற வருடம் இங்கே மசூதியில் குண்டு வெடித்து பலர் மரணமடைந்தார்கள்) முனிசிபல் கார்பரேஷன் தேர்தலில் முஸ்லீம் காங்கிரஸ் என்ற கட்சி பெரிய கட்சியாக வந்தது. இது முஸ்லீம் மௌல்விகளால் ஆரம்பிக்கப்பட்ட கட்சி.
இதுவும் அங்கு பல இடங்களை பெற்ற சிவசேனாவும் கூட்டணீயில் ஆள முடிவு செய்திருக்கின்றன.

Malegaon moulvis in deal with Sena
4 Jun, 2007 l 0156 hrs ISTlMateen Hafeez/TIMES NEWS NETWORK

MUMBAI: In a two-hour closed-door meeting at Shivneri Bhavan in Malegaon on Saturday night, the office bearers of the Indian Muslim Congress Party (IMCP) and the Shiv Sena agreed to a sharing arrangement for the mayor and deputy mayor posts in the Malegaon Municipal Corporation. While the mayor would be from IMCP, the saffron party would get the post of deputy mayor.

This means that the cleric-led IMCP, which as the Third Front substantially dented the Congress and JD(S) votebanks in the May 27 civic elections, is a step closer to staking its claim to rule the powerloom town's civic corporation along with the Sena.

While a 37-seat majority is needed to rule the 72-seat civic House, the IMCP has 26 seats and the Sena seven. An independent candidate has offered them support. Meanwhile, Congress and JD (S), which are joining hands, have 15 and 12 seats respectively. An independent has also offered the JD (S) support.

The Malegaon House will vote for the mayor on June 13. A delegation of the Third Front is likely to come to Mumbai to meet Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and executive president Uddhav Thackeray to finalise the deal. A decision on meeting the Thackerays is yet to be taken. No Sena office-bearer in Malegaon was available for comment.

The Malegaon meeting was attended by the Shiv Sena's Malegaon (Camp) MLA, Dada Bhuse, taluka pramukh Sanjay Dusane and IMCP office-bearers Maulana Ayyub Qasmi, Ateeque Mahendra and others. Several Sena leaders from Thane and Nashik were also present at the meeting and offered support to the IMCP.

It is learnt that deputy chief minister R R Patil on Saturday spoke to IMCP president Mufti Mohammed Ismail via telephone and assured him of the NCP's support if the Front did not join hands with the Sena. Sources said that Patil even said that he would speak to chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to get Congress support for the Front. However, the Front declined Patil's offer, saying the Congress has ruined the city and hampered its development.

In the twin powerloom township of Bhiwandi, which held its civic polls last week, the prospects of the secular parties are a shade brighter. Although the front-line Bhiwandi Vikas Aghadi has threatened to join Sena-BJP if the Samajwadi Party doesn't get off its high horse, a secular alliance may eventually emerge to rule the Bhiwandi-Nizampura Municipal Corporation, said political observers.

Aghadi president Javed Dalvi said that he was in talks with the Congress and Samajwadi Party to settle the issue of mayorship. However, refusing to rule out a Sena tilt, Dalvi said, "Rajniti mein kal ka dushman aaj ka dost ban jata hai (In politics, yesterday's foes are today's friends)."