Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said his party will fight the elections in Manipur, Goa and Uttar Pradesh – three of the five poll-bound states – in alliance with other parties.
He also said in Uttar Pradesh, the party will form an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, and a few other smaller parties. In Goa, the party is in talks with the Congress and TMC, and the NCP isn’t averse to taking Shiv Sena with it, Pawar said. The seat distribution will be announced soon.
At the NCP headquarters in Mumbai on Tuesday, a prominent leader from UP, Siraj Mehndi, entered the party in Pawar’s presence. Pawar addressed the press on that occasion.
“In Manipur, we have four sitting MLAs. The Congress and NCP will fight together on five seats now. In Goa, the Congress, TMC and NCP’s discussion is going on. In the next two days, a final decision will be taken on it. In UP, NCP, SP and small parties have formed an alliance,” Pawar said.
When asked about the Congress’s decision to go solo, he said it was each party’s decision and that he wouldn’t like to comment on it. He also made it clear that Congress can’t be kept out if a strong alternative is to be given.
He targeted UP CM Yogi Adityanath and said the ruling party’s agenda was to divide the elections on communal lines.
“There will be ‘parivartan’. People want a change in UP. NCP leaders will go there and will participate in that jalsa,” he said.
Referring to Yogi’s statement related to 80% population’s support, he said, “Such statements don’t suit a CM. Who are the 20% people? If secular thinking has to be strengthened in the country, a thought to protect the interest of these sections has to be supported. A state’s CM is the representative of the entire state. Not of 80% people.”
When asked about people leaving the BJP, he predicted that newer faces will leave the BJP everyday now.
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He said that all opposition parties had accepted that the BJP wanted to polarise the elections. “Communal polarisation is the policy of the BJP. They want to polarise the elections and take them up on communal lines. People of UP will not let it happen,” he said.
Raising strong concern over PM’s security breach, he said, “The PM is an institution. Its security is the responsibility of the centre and state.”
Clarifying his stance on UPA and its leadership yet again, he said, “With respect to UPA, I want to say that Congress will have to be taken together. The alternative will have to be with the Congress. There is no alternative to Congress.”
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