Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said here on Friday that workers of both NCPs, led by himself as well as his uncle Sharad Pawar, wish to “reunite” and that tensions within the Pawar family have been “sorted out”, six days ahead of the municipal elections scheduled to begin on January 15.
“Workers of both parties want to unite. The two NCPs are together now. All tensions in our family have ended,” Ajit Pawar told media persons on Friday evening, adding that the two parties have decided to jointly contest the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation election.
NCP Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar’s cousin, also confirmed that the two NCPs have come together for the Pimpri-Chinchwad polls, responding to demands by party workers. She, however, said, “There has been no discussion on whether this alliance with Ajit Pawar will continue.”
Ajit Pawar and his cousin Supriya Sule, who is the working president of Sharad Pawar group, will appear together for the first time on Saturday to unveil a joint manifesto of both the NCPs for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections.
“We can understand that the absence of Sharad Pawar NCP leaders in the election campaign was sending a wrong message among party workers and voters. Now, this will end as NCP chief Ajit Pawar, along with Sule, will together unveil the alliance’s election manifesto. This is the first time that the two will be sharing the political stage after the party split a few years ago,” Pune NCP executive chief Pradeep Deshmukh said.
Supriya Sule also refuted rumours of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP joining Maharashtra’s BJP-led government and her taking charge as a minister at the Centre. “Let those who are happy with such rumours spread it,” she said.
Sule went on to attack the BJP for “sowing the seeds of divisions among small parties to break them”. She criticised the developments in West Bengal where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched the political consultancy firm I-PAC.
“Pollution, potholes and traffic problems are at their peak in Mumbai. No work has been done on the ground. The public and voters are troubled by the mismatched alliances happening in Maharashtra. How are so many leaders being elected unopposed? This is a disturbing trend,” Supriya Sule told media persons.