Nashik: With elections around the corner, the NCP high command is leaving no stone unturned and is likely to re-induct 18 expelled party corporators of Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation (AMC) in the party fold.The party had expelled these corporators earlier this year in January as they had voted for a BJP nominee in the mayoral elections held in December last year. This helped BJP’s Babasaheb Wakale in becoming the mayor despite BJP having just 14 members in the 68-member AMC. The mayoral elections took place in the second week of December.Highly-placed sources in Ahmednagar NCP told TOI that the party leadership has softened its tough stand against the expelled corporators and is likely to take them back in the party.“The erring corporators will tender a written apology to the party high command stating that the decision to vote for the BJP candidate was a mistake and it would not be repeated. Once the written apology is tendered they would be taken back in the party,” a party official said.NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and state party president Jayant Patil are slated to visit Ahmednagar on March 25 to discuss party’s poll strategy with senior party leaders. “There is a distinct possibility that these 18 corporators could be taken back into the party on that day,” he said.All these 18 corporators are loyalists of the NCP Lok Sabha nominee from Ahmednagar Sangram Jagtap, who was instrumental in ensuring that BJP mayoral candidate got 18 votes of NCP corporators to win the mayoral polls.Apparently the Jagtap camp was averse to see a candidate from Shiv Sena, which emerged as the largest party in the AMC polls, win the mayoral elections. There is great deal of political animosity between Sena and NCP in Ahmednagar. BJP and Sena had contested the AMC elections separately and there was no post-poll tie up between these two.Moreover, Jagtap’s argument was that since BJP was in power in the Centre and in the state it would be prudent to have a BJP mayor at AMC as it would get adequate funds for development.NCP sources said that there was pressure from a section of the district unit to take back these 18 corporators so that they could work for Jagtap in the Lok Sabha polls. A district NCP leader said that when Jagtap could be given the ticket for Lok Sabha, taking back the 18 corporators into the party fold was no big deal.

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