By: Express News ServiceMumbai | Updated: November 19, 2025 10:59 PM IST 3 min readAccording to sources, the NCP(SP) does not have much stake in the BMC polls except for a few pockets in the city. Congress's attempt to seek an alliance with its oldest ally, Sharad Pawar, is to send a message that its decision to not ally with Shiv Sena(UBT) and MNS is based on principles and ideology.Days after Congress announced it will go solo in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, a delegation of Mumbai Congress on Wednesday held a meeting with Nationalist Congress Party(SP) chief Sharad Pawar with a proposal to form an alliance for the upcoming local body polls in Mumbai. Pawar has conveyed his party will inform them about a decision on this in the coming week.“Sharad Pawar’s party is our natural ally. We have been in alliance with his party in every election. We believe in the same ideology of inclusiveness, secularism and progressive ideals. We discussed the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and said that both parties should jointly contest the upcoming polls. We presented our stand and also held discussion with his party’s Mumbai chief Rakhi Jadhav ji,” said Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad.Gaikwad informed that the NCP(SP) has said a meeting between leaders of both parties will be held in the coming week and a final decision will be taken. “Two months ago, Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT leader) had presented the position that his party can go solo in the upcoming local body polls. But there was no discussion with us over the last two weeks. Be it any election, Lok Sabha or assembly, we have always faced it on a common minimum program. We believe in constitutional values and we cannot go with any party who resorts to hooliganism and violence,” she said without naming the Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).According to sources, the NCP(SP) does not have much stake in the BMC polls except for a few pockets in the city. Congress’s attempt to seek an alliance with its oldest ally, Sharad Pawar, is to send a message that its decision to not ally with Shiv Sena(UBT) and MNS is based on principles and ideology. Sources also told The Indian Express that the party wants to reclaim its organisational and ideological space which its leaders feel is lost to its allies.“The local unit of Mumbai wanted to contest this civic poll independently. We have given them the permission to do so. We did compromise during Lok Sabha and assembly and now the office bearers feel that the election should be fought on our own strength. There’s nothing wrong in it,” Ramesh Chennithala, Maharashtra Congress in-charge, had announced last week.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Mumbai