AURANGABAD: Transparency in civic body affairs and solution to the long standing drinking water problem are among the top priorities of the newly-elected BJP mayor Suresh Pawar and deputy mayor Devidas Kale of the Latur Municipal Corporation The appointment of BJP leaders on Monday brings an end to the Congress dominance that has been ruling the civic body for the past several decades.Latur is the hometown of Maharashtra's late former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh . BJP, which didn't have a single corporator, had won 36 of the 70 seats, while Congress had to content with just 33 and NCP could emerge victorious only on one seat.The BJP nominees Pawar and Kale bagged 36 votes each in the mayoral and deputy mayoral election, while their rivals and Congress candidates Vikrant Gojamgunde and Younus Momin received 34 votes each as the lone NCP member threw his weight behind the Congress nominees.The elections were considered as a litmus test for the Deshmukh family, especially since they were being fought under the leadership of Deshmukh's son Amit. In the 2012 civic election, Congress had bagged 49 seats, NCP got 13 and Shiv Sena had won six.Speaking with TOI, Kale said, "Our priority is to maintain transparency in the civic body affairs and provide drinking water for at least three hours every day. The residents have been facing water crunch for years. We want to correct the water supply system that too with immediate effect."He added there are other issues as well, including the solid waste management. "Our focus would be on maintaining cleanliness in the city, which is one of the issues that the city has been facing. We will also pay attention to keep a check on corrupt practices and leakages," the deputy mayor said."The autocratic style of functioning of the Congress leadership in Latur was to be blamed for the worst civic body affair that was being run as their fiefdom," said former Latur mayor Akhtar Mistry, who had joined the BJP on the eve of the civic body elections."People cutting across their religious and social affiliations, including Muslims, threw their weight behind the BJP with a hope that the change would help resolve various problems including drinking water issue. The BJP will not let these people down," said Mistry."The Congress lost this election due to strong anti-incumbency factor," said Mallikarjun Bhakatti, a noted RTI activist from Latur who exposed many wrongdoings in the civic body."One of the major issues was water. The BJP government provided water through train, while the Congress failed to even appreciate or in a way struck down efforts of its then mayor Mistry, who was running from pillar to post to improve the water supply situation. This was also one of the factors that added to the Congress losing considerable ground among its traditional followers," he added.

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