Pune: With the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) results, Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has made deep inroads into the city. The Pune civic polls have traditionally been dominated by the Congress. But this time the MNS has risen from a mere eight seats in the 2007 polls, to an impressive 29 seats.

Though Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as expected became the single largest party with 51 seats out of the 152 seats, Mr Thackeray's MNS is being seen as the runaway winner.

NCP will be forming an alliance with the Congress, which won 28 seats, to take control of the PMC.

Unlike Mumbai where Congress and the NCP fought together, the NCP contested separately in Pune, perhaps an attempt to encash the absence of Suresh Kalmadi, who has been suspended from the Congress on charges of corruption. The results indicate that the absence of local man, Mr Kalmadi, may have cost the Congress; something which turned out to be an advantage for Mr Pawar's NCP.

Tags: MNS, NCP, Pune, Pune civic polls, Raj Thackeray, Sharad Pawar

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