NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday ruled out his party joining hands with any other political formation, saying that those seeking to unite with it would have to join the party instead.
The state government has declared drought in 265 of Maharashtra’s 358 talukas and announced relief measures including crop-loan restructuring, land-revenue concessions and power-bill subsidies.
“We are not going anywhere. We will not go with anyone. NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule demanded that funds earmarked for the Shaktipeeth Expressway be diverted towards drought relief and farm-loan waivers. Pawar also urged the government to create greater awareness among farmers about the relief measures available to them and recalled his experience of handling drought-related issues as Union agriculture minister.
If you want to come, come with us,” Pawar said, addressing party workers and leaders at a two-day meeting at Y B Chavan Pratishthan in Mumbai. Pawar said the party would have to be strengthened and that there should be no confusion among its workers over its political direction. NCP (SP) Maharashtra president Shashikant Shinde later said Pawar had made it clear that any unification was possible only if the other faction merged with the NCP (SP). NCP leaders, however, said there was no proposal for a merger. State president Sunil Tatkare said Shinde’s remarks represented the stand of the NCP (SP). NCP spokesperson Suraj Chavan said his party had neither sent nor received any merger proposal. “There is no official talk of a merger,” he said. Pawar said several drought-hit talukas had not been covered and pointed out that banana growers had also been left out of the assistance. She said the party’s MLAs had decided to donate one month’s salary towards drought-relief work. “The party is in a mood to fight,” Sule said at the meeting, adding that she was overwhelmed by the response from workers.
