Pune: MVA to hold joint rally for PMC, PCMC polls

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has decided to hold joint rallies of its senior leaders across the state for the forthcoming civic elections, including the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), hoping to put up a united front against the BJP-Shinde alliance.

The first such rally will be held on April 2 at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad), with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP leader Ajit Pawar, state Congress chief Nana Patole, and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat addressing. These rallies will take place in Nagpur on April 16, Mumbai on May 1, Pune on May 14, Kolhapur on May 28, and Nashik on June 3.

The MVA will also take a call on inviting Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar to the rallies.

The decision to hold the joint rallies was taken at a meeting of MVA leaders in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Uddhav presided over the meeting, which was held on Vidhan Bhavan premises. Apart from Ajit Pawar and Nana Patole, leaders like Ambadas Danve, the Opposition leader of the state Legislative Council, Aaditya Thackeray, Chhagan Bhujbal, Satej Patil, Sunil Kedar and Dhananjay Munde were also present.