NCP (SP) won’t settle for less in assembly seat-sharing, says Pawar

Pune: The NCP (SP) agreed to contest fewer seats than its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies during the Lok Sabha elections but the situation would be different in the assembly polls, a party leader has quoted its supremo Sharad Pawar as saying.

Pawar held two meetings here on Friday, one with the party’s functionaries from Pune city and district, and another with its MLAs and newly-elected MPs.

City NCP (SP) chief Prashant Jagtap, who attended the first meeting, said Pawar told the gathering that the party contested fewer seats in the Lok Sabha polls just to ensure that the alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress remained intact.

“He indicated that the picture in the assembly polls will be different,” said Jagtap.

The NCP (SP) chief also reviewed the situation in assembly segments within the Pune, Baramati, Maval and Shirur Lok Sabha constituencies, he said.

A party leader who attended the second meeting said Pawar exhorted the MPs and MLAs to be prepared for the assembly elections.

Meanwhile, state NCP (SP) chief Jayant Patil told reporters that the party had not yet decided how many seats it would seek during the MVA seat-sharing talks.

As to the candidate for the Baramati assembly seat, currently represented by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, the head of the rival NCP, Patil said Pawar senior would take the decision.

Anil Deshmukh, another senior NCP (SP) leader, said to a question that there was no “elder brother and younger brother” in the MVA. “All are equal,” he said.

There was a lot of nervousness among the MLAs who are with the Ajit Pawar-led faction post the Lok Sabha results, and some of them were calling Patil and other NCP(SP) leaders, Deshmukh claimed. “Let’s see what is to be done with them,” he added.

While the NCP (SP) won eight Lok Sabha seats out of the 10 it contested, the Ajit Pawar-led faction won only one of the four seats it fought.