PUNE: The president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar yesterday suggested the “social combination” of the Congress, NCP, all factions of the Republication Party of India (RPI) and the Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra for the next Lok Sabha polls, apparently to counter the rising influence of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
Pawar disclosed his strategy for the next Lok Sabha elections during an interaction with editors of Sakaal Media Group, owned by his family, and editors of 13 different locations across Maharashtra interacted with him via video-conferencing.
Asked to spell out his views on seat sharing with the Congress and elections thereafter, Pawar said “We have not initiated any formal dialogue, but I have my views on it. We must accommodate Dalit (low-caste Hindus) leaders in our NCP-Congress alliance. The sacrifice of a few seats would be beneficial in the long run.”
Pawar noted that the Congress contested polls in 1998 with the help of all factions of the RPI (Prakash Ambedkar, Ramdas Athavale and Jogendra Kawade). Even Dalit leaders like federal Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Athavale contested elections on general seats. The Congress won 42 of 48 seats it contested.
“I insist that we should adopt the same strategy this time too. Congress and NCP should first decide on number of seats to be left for Ambedkar factions and Samajwadi Party. Then we can have internal sharing,” he said.
Pawar further said that poll tie-ups may add to confusion too. “I anticipate more pre-poll alliances than ever before. This may throw up a confusing picture with no single party close to 145 seats in the Lok Sabha.”
Speaking about the rising clout of Mayawati’s BSP, Pawar said: “The rise of Mayawati to chief ministership on her own is a major morale booster. The BSP has potential to damage the Congress in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is vulnerable.”
“Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh and Chandrababu Naidu or Chiranjeevi in Andhra Pradesh are the leaders to watch carefully.” Admitting that elections would not be smooth sailing for the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Pawar said, “We have a good track record. But inflation and a bad monsoon can reflect on the poll results.”
Meanwhile in another development, state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh yesterday renewed his invitation to Tata Group to set up the small car plant in Maharashtra after his initial offer a few days back following Tata’s threat to pull out form West Bengal due to the Singur Imbroglio.
“ Ratan Tata is facing major problem in Bengal regarding land acquisition for his small car project. We have given him an invitation to set up the plant here if he feels there is any problem regarding setting up the plant in Bengal,” Deshmukh said at the inauguration ceremony of General Motor’s (GM) new manufacturing facility in Pune.
