NCP meet to discuss civic polls strategy

Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress President (NCP) Sharad Pawar will hold extensive discussion with NCP ministers in the state cabinet, MLAs and other senior party functionaries from the state over the weekend to assess the political situation and decide the strategy for forthcoming elections of zila parishads and municipal corporations.

Whether NCP should go alone in these elections or have alliance with the Congress will be the main topic of the discussion.

The dominant view in the party is that it should contest the zilla parishad elections on its own and if necessary have tie-up with Congress and other like-minded parties in the municipal corporation elections, said a senior NCP minister.

Elaborating on his point, the minister said, "Both NCP and Congress have their support base in rural areas and BJP-Shiv Sena are hardly present in these areas, so even if there is direct fight between the two alliance partners, BJP-Sena are not in the position to take the advantage".

Besides, "if we enter into alliance there will be a large-scale rebellion in both the parties. There could be an understanding for power sharing after the elections," he added.

"However, in urban centres, the scenario is quite different. BJP-Sena are strong there, even though both parties are facing many internal problems," said party's state unit's general secretary.

Besides taking stock of the political situation, Pawar is also expected to assess the performance of party's ministers in the state cabinet.