Written by Alok DeshpandeMumbai | November 11, 2025 10:17 PM IST 3 min readThe meeting did not finalise about the inclusion of Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the MVA.The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has decided to leave the decision on forming alliance for the upcoming first phase of municipal council and municipal panchayat elections in Maharashtra to the local units of the parties.Leaders of the the MVA, including from Sena UBT, NCP(SP), and Congress, held a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday but refrained from announcing the alliance. “The meeting was about general coordination between the constituents of INDIA bloc. It was decided to allow local units to take their decision on contesting these elections as per their wish, since a huge number of workers from all parties are willing to contest these elections. No party can afford to ask workers to back down since the local body polls are being held after a long gap,” said a senior Congress leader. The leader said that wherever necessary, the alliance will take place depending on the local conditions.The meeting did not finalise about the inclusion of Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the MVA. The Congress had kept distance with the MNS in the wake of ongoing Bihar Assembly polls, which ended on Tuesday.A section within the Congress is ready to ally with the MNS depending on local political situation while another group wants to keep the party at distance, due to its aggressive stand on migrants, especially north Indians and Raj Thackeray’s previous stand regarding Muslims.The meeting was joined by NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule, party state unit chief Shashikant Shinde, Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal, Sena (UBT) leader MLC Anil Parab, Lok Sabha MP Anil Desai, Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) and Sachin Kharat of Republican Party of India (Kharat).After the meeting Sapkal said that the decision has been taken to undertake necessary coordination to contest the election with unified force. Sule said that the discussion was about local condition at each district and how to move forward. “We discussed the steps to be taken to move forward and the formation of coordination committee. A clear and complete picture will be out within next two to three days about the political stand of every party,” she said.Sule also maintained that the committee will be formed to coordinate the working as INDIA bloc. “As far as inclusion of any other party is concerned, the decision will be taken by the top leaders of the front,” she said. Elections to 246 municipal councils and 42 municipal panchayats will be held under the first phase on December 2, and the counting will be held on December 3.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd