Maharashtra: "Unacceptable" BJP-Congress Tie-Up in Ambernath Civic Body. Congress Suspends Local Leaders

A controversial post-poll alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Maharashtra's Ambernath Municipal Council has sparked outrage, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis terming it "unacceptable" and vowing to dismantle it, while the state Congress swiftly suspended its local councillors for breaching party discipline.

The unusual coalition, dubbed "Ambernath Vikas Aghadi," brought together 14 BJP councillors, 12 from Congress, four from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and one independent, securing a majority of 32 in the 60-member council. This enabled BJP's Tejashree Karanjule Patil to be elected as council president, defeating the candidate from Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena despite the latter emerging as the single largest party with 27 seats.

Local BJP leaders defended the move as a bid to promote development and curb alleged corruption during the Shiv Sena's long tenure in the civic body. They claimed repeated attempts to ally with the Shinde faction went unanswered, leaving no option but to partner with others.

However, the arrangement drew sharp criticism for contradicting the BJP's national narrative of a "Congress-mukt Bharat" (Congress-free India). Fadnavis, in a TV interview, stated that no such alliance had central approval and labelled unilateral decisions by local leaders as a violation of party norms. "Instructions have already been issued to scrap it, and action will be taken against those responsible," he asserted.

On the Congress side, state president Harshvardhan Sapkal ordered the immediate suspension of Ambernath block chief Pradeep Patil and all 12 elected councillors. The party's block executive committee was also dissolved. A formal letter accused the local unit of forging the tie-up without informing or seeking permission from higher leadership, calling it a "serious breach of discipline."

The development has intensified tensions within the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which includes BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's NCP at the state level. Shiv Sena leaders decried the partnership as opportunistic, while opposition figures highlighted the irony in BJP's ideological stance.

Similar unauthorised post-poll understandings involving the BJP in other civic bodies have added to the controversy, prompting Fadnavis to reiterate that alliances with certain parties remain off-limits.

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