Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The chief spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP, Sharad Pawar faction), Mahesh Tapase, on Monday, said, “ The BJP is pretending to extend a hand to Ajit Pawar while it is pulling him back with both hands. The BJP no longer wants him, as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) believes that Ajit Pawar has caused significant damage to the BJP in the Lok Sabha. Therefore, in the upcoming legislative assembly elections, the BJP is likely to ally with Eknath Shinde and Raj Thackeray. There is less possibility that the BJP will associate with Ajit Pawar, therefore, he would have to contest the assembly elections independently.
While speaking to the newsmen at the Rashtravadi Bhavan, Tapase mentioned that although Sharad Pawar would be Ajit Pawar's only option in such a situation, but the former has already announced that he will not take the latter back. Ultimately, the uncle has bested the nephew.
When asked about how many seats the NCP would contest, Tapase said that considering the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi could win 160 seats. The NCP contested ten seats in the LS polls, therefore, based on the strike rate of victories, it should receive an equal number of assembly seats.
When asked how many MLAs would join the NCP (SP), Tapase responded saying that it is certain that there will be an 'incoming' of our party in the government.
Earlier, Sharad Pawar has said, the face of the Chief Ministerial candidate will be from the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Tapase appealed to the current ruling party members to announce opposition leader’s face after the election.
Cognizance of Lokmat News
Tapase took cognizance of the special report published in Daily Lokmat highlighting embezzlement of measurement fees to the tune of crores of rupees using fake challans. He said that question regarding this issue will be raised by the NCP in the assembly. The ruling party claims that the city will get adequate water by December 2024. However, Tapase questioned how this would be possible when only 65 per cent works of the Rs 2,740 crore project has been completed.
NCP City President Khwaja Sharfuddin, Working President Abhishek Deshmukh, Mushtaq Ahmed, Surjeetsingh Khunger, Veena Khare, Gazala Baji, Shaheen Begum, Syed Taufiq and others were present at the press conference.