Pawar to assess NCP's standalone prospects

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of the ruling Congress-led coalition in Maharashtra, will meet on July 31 to explore the possibility of cutting loose from the Congress.

Party chief Sharad Pawar, who has already ruled out NCP’s merger with the Congress, will hold a closed-door meeting with 20 ministers in the Congress-led government for their view and also gauge the preparedness for going it alone in the state.

The agenda is growth and stability. Pawar is expected to hold similar meetings with party ministers and office bearers in other states.

The proposed meeting comes after the NCP criticised the Congress for not giving political space to its coalition partners and also joined the Left coalition in Kerala. It indicated it would like to ally with like-minded parties in different states to become a pan-Indian party, if the Congress refuses adequate representation.

Earlier this month, Pawar had requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reduce his ministerial burden so that he could devote more time to the party. On July 7, at a felicitation on becoming the International Cricket Council president, Pawar had announced he would visit various districts in both Maharashtra and other states to develop the NCP.

An NCP general secretary, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard: “The July 31 meeting convened by Pawar is crucial, as it will assess the party’s potential to grow independently in Maharashtra if the Congress dumps us. Even though NCP is sharing the Congress-led government since 1999 in the state, the Congress party leaves no opportunity to ridicule us. The Congress can grow but it should not mar NCP’s growth prospects.”

NCP leaders said Pawar will use the meeting to review ministers’ work and suggest ways in which they can be more useful to the party.

Madhukarrao Pichad, president of the Maharashtra NCP, said: “NCP is growing but it has to do more to reach out to various sections and areas. Our party president will seek views from ministers in this regard.”