There is an old political cliché about there being no permanent friends or enemies in politics, only permanent interests. In Pune right now, that line sounds less like wisdom and more like warning.

Ahead of the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic elections, the city’s political class is putting on a spectacle that many voters see as openly contemptuous of the ballot. Leaders who were abusing each other in public just months ago, who sought votes by fiercely defending their alliances during the Maharashtra assembly elections, are now sharing platforms – this time attacking the very allies who helped them form the government.

The churn is most visible within the Nationalist Congress Party. After three years of public acrimony, the rival factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar have come together for the civic polls. The reunited NCP is now taking on its former assembly allies – the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on one side, and the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on the other.

This realignment has come even as Ajit Pawar continues........

© newslaundry