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The ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra have formed a co-ordination committee to ensure proper coordination, rederess grievances, survive anti-incumbency and cash in on the divided opposition during the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
In the 10-member co-ordination committee, the Congress is represented by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, state Congress Chief Manikrao Thakre and three ministers. The NCP's team includes Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state NCP Chief Bhaskarrao Jadhav and three ministers. The committee has swung into action in Thane, Jalgaon, Satara, Pune, Solapur, Mhada (Solapur district) and six constituencies in Mumbai to bring together disgruntled elements.
“Both parties have suffered in the past due to actions against each other. Therefore, the panel has been formed and become operational,” Pawar told Business Standard.
In Pune, I personally went to the Congress office to send a positive signal to both parties. Also, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan asked Congress members to support the NCP nominee in Satara. Efforts are being stepped up to bring intra-party groups on board. We have provided a helpline so that the committee can quickly look into local issues and sort them out before they escalat,” Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told Business Standard.
Pawar hoped that the NCP, which had bagged 8 seats in the 2009 polls, would certainly reach double digits this time. He added that the Congress, which had won 17 seats in 2009, would also improve its tally.
State Congress Chief Manikrao Thakre praised the NCP's move to expel its minister Vijay Gavit from the ministry and later from the party after his daughter received a nomination from the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Congress candidate Manikrao Gavit in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar seat. “The NCP's move is quite timely. It has helped in further strengthening the alliance between the two parties. We are putting up a united show, especially when rifts are surfacing in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance,” he noted.
Of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, the Congress is contesting in 27 while the NCP has fielded its nominees in 21 constituencies.
