“Those who worked for the NCP (SP) candidates in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections are ours. Their well-being is our responsibility,” said NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar at the residence of Shirur MP Amol Kolhe in Pune on Saturday.
Notably, Atul Benke, the MLA from Junnar, who is currently part of the NCP Ajit Pawar faction, was also present at the meeting with Kolhe. Benke is the latest in a series of senior leaders from the Ajit Pawar faction, the most recent being Chhagan Bhujbal, who met Pawar last week at his residence in Mumbai, to call on the NCP (SP) President. It must be noted that Amol Kolhe got a good lead from Benke's Junnar constituency against Shivaji Rao Adhalrao Patil, the Lok Sabha candidate from the Ajit Pawar faction.
Pawar also expressed confidence that the MVA alliance will win 225 of the 288 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
Pawar’s statements come after 28 members from Pune district, including the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit’s city president and two former corporators, quit the Ajit Pawar faction after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections to join the NCP(SP).
“They [the Mahayuti government] have not solved the people’s problems despite coming to power. We want to take back the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha into our hands,” said Pawar, building upon recent moves by the NCP(SP) to begin poll preparations for the upcoming assembly elections with a statewide manifesto crowdsourcing campaign and the release of a book on the “black deeds” of the ruling Mahayuti.
Responding to questions on seat-sharing discussions within the MVA, Pawar said, “Everyone requests more seats. But the important thing is to win the seats that you contest on. The NCP(SP) contested 10 seats, but won 8 out of those 10 seats, we had the highest strike rate.”
Pawar added, however, he did not believe in such rankings and the MVA was coming together, and all three partners would go to the public together for the upcoming elections. “In the last Lok Sabha election, the Congress won one seat and the NCP won four seats. Five years later, the people of Maharashtra have given our alliance 31 seats,” said Pawar, expressing optimism about the MVA’s prospects. Previously, Pawar had said the opposition would win 225 out of 288 seats in the Vidhan Sabha in Maharashtra.
In a significant decision on Friday, the Maharashtra Election Commission issued a notice to freeze all symbols that were deceptively similar to the NCP(SP) symbol. Reacting to this development, Pawar said, “I welcome this decision. But this decision is limited to Maharashtra. We are now hopeful that this decision will be extended at national level.”
