Now, BJP sets eyes on NMC polls

NASHIK: The BJP has started preparations for contesting the 2017 civic elections on its own in the wake of its success in the just-concluded assembly elections.
The party's decision to contest the last Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) body elections alone had helped it reach out to the nook and cranny of the city. Though the party could not bag a good number of seats then, the decision helped the BJP win three of the four assembly constituencies in city.
"The success in the assembly elections was largely because of Narendra Modi's functioning as the Prime Minister. But another factor was the BJP contesting the 2012 civic body poll on its own," a senior party office-bearer said, adding, "We have now started preparations for the next corporation election on our own."
"We have already started our preparations and the government in the Centre and the state will ensure that the BJP wrests control of the corporation as well," the office bearer said.
The BJP had won 13 seats in the 108-member house when it contested the 2007 election with partner Shiv Sena through a seat-sharing formula. It won 14 seats out of 122 seats in 2012 when it went alone in the election.
"The party then did not score percentage wise. In fact, we lost a good number of seats though our tally only increased by one seat. But even then we had maintained that contesting every seat will only help us reach to every corner of the city. This is what has helped us in gaining good grounds for the assembly polls," the office bearer added.
The local party unit lead by Lakshman Savji had stressed going alone in the city in the 2012 election to the corporation. There was stiff opposition but the party members were willing to fight it alone even then as there were issues on seat sharing between Shiv Sena and BJP.
"We had taken a stand that we will create our own identity. In areas where the Shiv Sena was contesting, the party had identity crisis. Besides, the party was unable to create a network in the areas where it did not contest elections largely because the workers never got the opportunity to contest elections. We broke the process and stood firm on the stand of going alone. And when that happened, we bagged 14 seats. Besides, we got the post of deputy mayor through a post-poll alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) till 2014," he said.
The BJP is now likely to maintain the strategy of contesting elections alone and striking alliances after election results. "This formula suits us best as the cut-throat competition will only allow the party workers to strive hard to get public attention and appreciation, which will further translate in to votes.
In case of victory, an individual has the chance to get a post of corporator as reward. In case of failure, the party gets to know who is weak and what has to be done," he said.