Maharashtra minister for Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil on Thursday said he wonders if the ruling BJP government will have to work with a combined Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) if both its factions merge in the future. Currently, Ajit Pawar’s NCP and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) are jointly contesting the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections, even though they are in opposite alliances at the state level.
While speaking at the Loksatta Loksamvad, Patil said, “Why have Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar come together in this municipal election? They have come together today, but will they come together tomorrow as well? Will we have to run the government by taking along the Nationalist Congress Party that has both factions together? These questions are on my mind as well.”
Despite being together in the ruling Mahayuti alliance at the state level, the BJP, Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena are contesting the Pune Municipal Corporation elections separately. Ajit Pawar’s NCP has formed an alliance with Sharad Pawar’s NCP while alliance talks between the BJP and and the Shiv Sena for the PMC polls failed.
Ajit Pawar has also repeatedly criticised BJP leaders in the last few days, drawing ire from Patil. Explaining why Mahayuti is not contesting elections together in many regions, Patil said, “The idea was that we would fight separately for convenience. It was decided from the beginning that we would not comment on each other. Eknath Shinde did not speak against us, and we did not speak against him either. Ajit Pawar also followed this until about eight days ago. I don’t know why he abandoned this later. Then, we decided that we would also have to speak up, otherwise people would say that there is something wrong with us, so we responded.”
“Maharashtra’s politics used to revolve around Sharad Pawar, but Devendra Fadnavis has shown such capability that it now revolves around him. He must have something in mind,” added Patil.
Curated by Dr. Elena Rodriguez
