MUMBAI: After the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance registered success in the Maharashtra civic body polls and ensured a majority hold over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Uddhav Thackeray, working president of the Shiv Sena, invited the Congress to work together for the development of Mumbai.

Mr. Uddhav asked the Congress to join hands the Sena to provide better civic facilities.

"Let's work together for Mumbai. The people are with us but the Government is yours. Mumbai gives more revenue than any other State, so you and I should try and get more money from the Centre for the State," Mr. Uddhav said in an interview to a private news channel.

Responding to his appeal, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has given the assurance that ideological differences will not hamper the city's development work.

Mr. Uddhav's statement assumed significance as the State Government is ruled by the Congress-NCP alliance, while the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance retained control over the BMC. Mr. Uddhav said that the victory was a result of the hard work put in by both the Shiv Sena and the BJP.

The Sena-BJP alliance has won 111 out of the 227 BMC seats. To prove majority on the floor, it will have to garner the support of a few independents.

Municipal corporation elections were held on Thursday in Mumbai (227 wards), Thane (116 wards), Ulhasnagar (76 wards), Pune (144 wards), Pimpri-Chinchwad (105 wards), Nashik (108 wards), Solapur (98 wards), Akola (71 wards), Amravati (81 wards), and Nagpur (136 wards).

Tussle for Pune, Solapur

PTI reports:

Meanwhile, hectic activity has started for control of the Pune and Solapur civic bodies, where the NCP and the Congress respectively have emerged the single largest party and can win power together.

"We have left it to Congress 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 their leaders in the run-up to the polls.

Asked when the two parties would discuss the Pune issue, Mr. Dalwai said: "We are waiting for a response from the NCP."

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

In Ulhasnagar, the NCP has lost to the saffron combine. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Ajit Pawar magic has worked for the NCP, which does not need the support of the Congress or anybody else to govern there.

In Nashik, the Sena-BJP, with 40 of the 108 seats, is trying to retain power with support from others. Congress and NCP secured 38 seats there. In Nagpur, the BJP-Sena combine has wrested power from the Congress-NCP. The BJP, with 56 seats in the 136-member civic body, has led the saffron surge in the orange city.

In Amravati, the Congress, which fought the polls separately, can retain the civic body if it joins hands with the NCP. The Congress won 21 of the 81 seats, while the NCP won 18. The Sena-BJP alliance won 26.

In Akola, the only municipal corporation where the Congress and the NCP fought the February 1 poll together, they have bagged 30 of the 71 seats. — ANI, PTI

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