The Congress suffered a major setback in Ambernath after 12 councillors, elected on the party’s ticket in the recent municipal council elections, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) late on Wednesday night following their suspension.
The developments come in the backdrop of the formation of the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, an unexpected alliance involving the Congress, BJP and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
In the December 20 municipal council polls, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party, winning 27 seats, just four short of a majority in the 60-member House.
Within the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, BJP secured 14 seats, while the Congress won 12. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP managed to win four seats, and two independent candidates were also elected. However, the Shiv Sena faced a setback in the municipal president’s election, where its candidate Manisha Walekar lost to BJP’s Tejashree Karanjule Patil.
The councillors who switched sides include Darshana Patil, Archana Patil, Harshada Patil, Tejaswini Patil, Pradeep Patil, Vipul Patil, Kabir Gaikwad, Manish Mhatre, Dhanlaxmi Jayashankar, Sanjivani Devde, Dinesh Gaikwad and Kiran Rathod.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal had earlier initiated disciplinary action against the 12 councillors.
Sapkal said that Congress councillors had not extended support to any other party and reiterated that the organisation remains firmly opposed to aligning with the BJP.
He also said that explanations have been sought from the party’s taluka-level leadership in this matter.
SVhiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut accused the BJP of adopting double standards to remain in power.
