BJP won't reach 272 but emerge as single largest party: Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that BJP will emerge as the single largest party but added that it won't be in a position to reach the magic figure of 272. The Maratha strongman argued that role of regional parties including Trinamool Congress, AIADMK, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Biju Janata Dal will be quite crucial in the formation of next government at the Centre.

''BJP will improve its performance especially in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, this is not sufficient for BJP to reach the magic figure. In the current scenario, BJP will be the single largest party, and Congress will be the second largest, I feel", he said

"Mamata Banerjee, J Jayalalithaa and Mayawati will get good number of seats. I do not see Mamata will join the BJP led NDA especially when West Bengal has nearly 25% muslim population,'' Pawar told Business Standard. He was speaking after addressing the joint rally for the NCP nominee Sunil Tatkare who is pitted in the Raigad constituency against Shiv Sena MP Anant Gite and Peasants & Workers Party candidate Ramesh Kadam.

As far as NCP is concerned, Pawar said his party is set to achieve double digit from 8 which it won in the 2009 elections. ''I do not have exact details about the Congress party but one thing is clear both the parties in Maharashtra are working in close coordination,'' he observed. He also opined that there was no Modi wave in the state nor at the national level.

Pawar however, admitted that BJP has outsmarted the UPA by resorting to aggressive publicity gimmicks.

Tearing apart the Gujarat model strongly propogated by the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the NCP chief termed it as "scary" one. He claimed that the Gujarat model won't benefit states but their growth will impacted heavily.

''I do not think the Gujarat model will benefit the states. Gujarat state had recorded highest growth ranging between 13% and 16.77% during the Congress led government. Ironically, the growth has fallen to 10.33 during Modi led government for the period 2000-05 and 9.35% during 2005 & 2011. In FDI, Maharashtra topped the list with investment of Rs 2,54,625 crore during 2000-12 while Gujarat received a mere Rs 36,930 crore. In case of poverty reduction, Gujarat's performance was quite poor even compared with the less developed Odisha,'' Pawar informed.