Pune: The BJP versus NCP conflict deepened on Friday as corporators from the Sunetra Pawar-led party staged a protest in the PMC headquarters alleging that the BJP was deliberately diverting their development funds.BJP members also wrote a letter to NCP chief Sunetra, claiming that her corporators had been criticising BJP seniors, including cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil. The functionaries of the parties, allies at the Centre and the state govt, are at loggerheads in Pune. They stressed that they would continue to take stand against each other if targeted by corporators from the other side.NCP took objection to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s standing committee decision regarding the diversion of funds from NCP corporators Amol Balwadkar and Suhas Tingre’s wards. NCP corporators led by former MLA and city president Sunil Tingre, and Hadapsar MLA Chetan Tupe staged a sit-in protest at the PMC’s main building on Friday.Speaking about the conflict, Tingre said, “It is unfortunate that BJP has stooped to the level of blocking development funds for political purpose. We are in alliance with the party at the Centre and the state. If it has any issues with our corporators, it could have been sorted out by holding meeting with party seniors.”NCP has written a letter to the PMC commissioner, requesting him to take suo motu call of sending the proposal to the state govt to cancel the standing committee’s decision.BJP corporator Ganesh Bidkar, on the other hand, wrote to Sunetra, complaining against Balwadkar for making remarks against BJP senior Chandrakant Patil. “The alliance is at the state-level, but in the PMC, we contested against each other. If NCP’s corporators continue to insult our party’s seniors, we will not allow it to happen,” Bidkar, the leader of the House in PMC, said.
