Aware NCP's short of numbers to reach majority in PMC house, lone independent poll winner Ashwini Kadam says she'll return to party that denied her ticket only if it chooses her for mayor over 8 other OBC women in race for reserved post
Aware NCP's short of numbers to reach majority in PMC house, lone independent poll winner Ashwini Kadam says she'll return to party that denied her ticket only if it chooses her for mayor over 8 other OBC women in race for reserved post
"I will join the party (NCP) only if it offers me the mayor's post," said Ashwini Kadam, an NCP rebel and the only independent candidate to emerge victorious in the just-concluded PMC election. 
Bargaining hard: Ashwini Kadam, the lone independent candidate to
win the Pune Municipal Corporation election, is from the OBC category.
The post of mayor this time is reserved for an OBC woman candidate.
Kadam won from Panel Number 67 (Sahakar Nagar) after she was
denied an NCP ticketu00a0u00a0
In the civic body, the mayor's post is reserved for a woman from the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. Though eight OBC women have been elected on the party ticket, according to party sources the NCP rebel will be the strongest contender for the post of mayor if she is taken back in the party fold.
NCP city chief Ankush Kakade said the decision over selection of mayor would be taken only after a meeting between Deputy CM Ajit Pawar with NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi today. Kadam said the party had to make the first move by offering her the mayor's post. "I no longer trust the NCP leadership. I will return to party fold only if the senior leaders promise to give me the post of mayor." Kadam, who won the election from Panel Number 67 (Sahakar Nagar), a BJP bastion, said the no one from the party had yet approached her.
NCP still undecided
Kakade said Kadam had not yet joined them and the party would think about offering her the post of mayor only if she returned to the party fold. "There are eight other OBC women corporators in the race. Two of them have been reelected while the rest are first-timers. We will be able to take a decision over the mayoral candidate only after the senior party leaders' meeting happens in Delhi," said Kakade.
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