The Congress on Wednesday suspended 12 of its newly elected councillors from the party after they made a post-poll alliance with archrival BJP in Maharashtra's Ambernath municipal council.
Dubbing the alliance a "completely wrong action," Maharashtra Congress also ordered the dissolution of the Ambernath bloc committee and the suspension of its president and senior party leader Pradeep Patil.
In a letter to Pradeep, State Congress Vice President Ganesh Patil wrote, "This is a completely wrong action and a violation of party discipline. Considering this matter, by order of the Hon'ble State President, Harshvardhan Sapkal, you are hereby suspended from the Congress party. Furthermore, your Block Congress Executive Committee is being dissolved. Similarly, all the corporators who have violated party discipline along with you are also being suspended from the party."
The action came after it emerged that following the civic elections last month, the BJP joined hands with Congress and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) under the banner of 'Ambernath Vikas Aghadi' to form the Ambernath Municipal Council leadership.
The move was intended to sideline BJP ally and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which emerged as the single largest party with 27 councillors. The BJP, which won 14 seats, forged an alliance with archrival Congress, which secured 12 seats and NCP with 4 seats.
With the support of one independent, the three-party coalition's strength has risen to 32 councillors, crossing the majority mark of 30.
However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday rejected the alliance and warned of action against party leaders involved.
Calling the alliance "unacceptable," CM Fadnavis said such arrangements were not approved by the party's senior leadership and violated organisational discipline.
"I am making it very clear that any alliance with the Congress or the AIMIM will not be accepted. If any local leader has taken such a decision on their own, it is wrong in terms of discipline, and action will be taken," Fadnavis said, reported PTI.
Meanwhile, the BJP also struck a similar alliance with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and several other parties in the Akot Municipal Council in Akola district.
The alliance was named the 'Akot Vikas Manch' with support from the Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT), Shinde's Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar's NCP, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and the Prahar Janshakti Party led by Bachchu Kadu.
The BJP won 11 seats in the 35-member council, with two seats pending election, and the AIMIM secured five seats. With the support of various other parties, the alliance's strength stands at 25.
BJP's Maya Dhule was elected mayor, defeating AIMIM's Firozabi Sikandar Rana. Ravi Thakur of the BJP was appointed group leader, with all allies bound by the party whip.
The alliance was formally registered with the Akola district administration on Wednesday, ahead of deputy mayor and committee elections on January 13.
The Congress, with six seats, and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, with two, remained in the Opposition.
(With inputs from PTI)