NCP, Congress may split before state polls

MANDATE 2004/ Decision on snap polls in Maharashtra after LS results, says Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the pre-poll alliance his party has with the Congress may not necessarily be extended to the state elections, scheduled to be held in Maharashtra in September this year.

"It has been possible to effect a pre-poll alliance with the Congress and other friendly parties for the Lok Sabha elections. However, since the perspective for the Assembly elections is distinct from that for the Lok Sabha on local as well as leadership issues, effecting a similar pre-poll alliance for these elections is not going to be easy," Pawar told the media.

Pawar said the restriction on the size of the state cabinet (which comes into effect from July 7 this year) was responsible for the NCP's decision to field two ministers, Laxmanrao Dhoble and Manohar Naik, as candidates for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

A decision to go in for snap elections in the state (the term of the present Assembly ends in September) would only be taken after assessing the results of the Lok Sabha elections, Pawar added.

He said his party had considered two proposals for a pre-poll alliance in the state prior to the Lok Sabha elections.

"One was to tie up with the BJP or the Nationalist Democratic Alliance (NDA)and the other was an alliance with the Congress. I deliberately maintained a silence on the issue, allowing it to come up for debate before the party. At the party conclave, the two proposals were put to vote, while 24 party members voted in favour of an alliance with the Congress only six voted for a tie-up with the NDA. Those who did not agree with the majority view have already left the party," Pawar said.

Dismissing any personal aspirations for the prime ministership, Pawar clarified that his party was only contesting 30 Lok Sabha seats in India, adding that there was little scope for the party to secure a majority.

"The NDA is also not going to be in a position to get a clear majority. Hence either the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will play a deciding role in installing the next Union government," Pawar added.