With a cloud hanging over the future of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, Mr. Pawar’s allies in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) — have respectively begun taking stock of all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
Mr. Pawar’s repeated meetings with his nephew, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, despite the latter splitting the NCP last month to align with the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde government, has prompted the Sena (UBT) and the Congress to suspect that Pawar senior’s faction may ally with the BJP in the future, despite his denials of it.
According to sources, the two MVA parties are preparing for the 2024 General Election knowing they might have to go without Mr. Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, despite the latter’s assurance that his NCP faction would have nothing to do with the BJP.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday said that while the NCP chief’s meetings with Mr. Ajit Pawar were certainly a cause for concern for the future of the MVA alliance, a decision on it would only be taken by the party’s top brass.
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“I have said before that the meetings [between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar] are a cause for worry. These clandestine meetings are improper. But discussions on this matter will be held at a higher level, that is, the Opposition INDIA bloc. It is not right for me to comment on it,” Mr. Patole said.
He remarked that the Congress’ stance was clear and that it would take anybody who was willing to fight the BJP.
Soon after Mr. Sharad Pawar’s meeting with Mr. Ajit Pawar on August 13, Mr. Patole held a long meeting with the Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) leadership to deliberate on the future course of the MVA.
The Congress has already appointed observers to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra to study every segment and submit a report to the party high command before August 15. The party has also decided to launch a march by foot (padayatra) from August 16 to August 31.
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Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut said there was no such decision as yet on the Congress and his faction contesting the General Election without Mr. Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction,
“We hope that the MVA will remain together till the end without any aspersions cast on the role of any of the constituents,” Mr. Raut said.
Like the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT), too, will begin its stock-taking meet to review all 48 Lok Sabha constituencies over the next four days, sources said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, said there ought not to be any confusion on the point of whether their faction would ally with the BJP when Mr. Sharad Pawar had already made clear he would never go with the saffron party.
Pawar senior loyalist Jitendra Awhad, too, said the NCP chief had made clear he would not compromise in any manner with the BJP.
