In Maharashtra politics these days, discussions of the possible merger of both the factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar are in full swing. But amidst these speculation, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) chief Sharad Pawar has made it clear that his party will not form any kind of alliance with Ajit Pawar in the upcoming local body elections including Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Addressing a meeting of the party in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Sharad Pawar said, “We are ready for alliance with equal ideology parties in the upcoming local body elections. But we have to understand what the equal ideology means? If someone believes in Gandhi, Nehru, Phule, Shahu and Ambedkar’s ideology, then we can sit with them, but we are sitting with the opportunity for those who are sitting with the BJP only. And such opportunism should not be promoted. ”
Alliance conversation ends
In fact, talking to the media two days ago, Sharad Pawar said that his party is ready for an alliance in the upcoming elections. After this statement, the discussion started whether both NCP factions would contest elections together. But today he said with full clarity that his party will not sit with those who are in the government with BJP and still call themselves followers of Phule, Shahu and Ambedkar’s ideology.
Internal tussle in NCP
Sharad Pawar also admitted that some MLAs of his party are in favor of going with Ajit Pawar, while on the other hand some MLAs are opposing it. To this, he said, “Now the work of taking decisions in the party has been handed over to Supriya (Sunil). I am no longer in an active role in the party’s decisions. But when the coalition conversation with Ajit Pawar started, I came forward and clarified the situation.” ‘Forget those who have gone, give a chance to the new leadership’
In his speech, Sharad Pawar made an emotional appeal to the workers, saying, “We should not care about those who left us. We should focus on bringing the younger generation forward and preparing a new leadership for the future of Maharashtra.” He also shared an anecdote citing his political experiences. Pawar said, “When I was the Chief Minister in 1980, we had 70 MLAs. But I went to London for 10 days for an important work and when I came back, I saw that 64 out of 70 MLAs had left the party. We had only 6-7 MLAs left. But I did not give up and I did not give up and changed the picture of politics again.”
