NCP rules out merger with Cong

Decides to reinvent itself ahead of Maharashtra polls

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday rejected Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s suggestion that NCP chief Sharad Pawar should come back to the Congress fold in the wake of the debacle that both parties had suffered in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

“When we were with the Congress, you did not recognise our value. Now, we are a separate party. What Digvijaya Singh has said is his personal view,” said NCP leader Praful Patel, who lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s nominee Nana Patole in Bhandara-Gondia.

NCP spokesman Nawab Malik also said his party’s merger with the Congress was not possible.

Both, Patel and Malik were speaking to reporters after Pawar held a marathon meeting with NCP leaders to discuss the party’s rout in Maharashtra in the general elections. Contesting 21 seats, the NCP won four while Congress managed to bag only two seats of the 27 seats it contested from.

Pawar asked his ministers to start afresh for the ensuing elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly slated for September-October this year. He emphasised the need to step up efforts for improvement in the NCP’s position in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

Besides, Pawar also called upon his ministers to redraft the NCP’s strategy to effectively use social media during the Assembly elections.

The NCP state unit will rejig its team of spokespersons to put up a strong show. State home minister R R Patil, rural development minister Jayant Patil, minister for Krishna Valley Shashikant Shinde and minister of state for housing and slum development Sachin Ahir will soon be appointed as party spokesmen.