NCP chief claims Congress offered to forge alliance with Shiv Sena

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Monday revealed that a leader from Congress had called Ajit Pawar with a proposal that the former allies (Congress-NCP) should come together to forge an alliance with the Shiv Sena, which has emerged as a second largest party behind the BJP in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Shiv Sena has got 63 votes in its kitty and is behind the BJP, which has emerged as a single largest party with 122 votes, falling short by 23 votes to form the government.

"A proposal from Congress was received which said that the former allies should come together to go along with Shiv Sena. However, since we were skeptical about the survival of the government for too long, we did not accept the proposal," Pawar said. The NCP, which was mired in corruption cases and was categorically targeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, has been thrown to the fourth position- with 41 seats from second in 2009 Assembly elections. However, going by the political acumen of the veteran leader and subsequent masterstroke played by him has set the political circles abuzz after the party declared that they would extend unconditional support to the BJP to give a stable government.

"Apprehensive over the functioning of unstable government, we did not think much on the Congress' proposal and therefore rejected it outrightly," Pawar added.

The veteran leader also clarified that his party will have no role in the formation of the new government and the only reason they have extended unconditional support to the BJP is to give a stable government in the state.

Meanwhile, the NCP chief has stressed on expanding the NCP in the state. "Challenges lie ahead for the newly-elected MLAs. The MLAs should not just limit themselves to their constituency and should also work in other constituency with an aim to expand the outfit further," he said.

Meanwhile, the party unanimously elected Pawar's nephew and Baramati MLA Ajit Pawar as the NCP's leader of the legislative assembly. Former minister R.R. Patil, who has Kawathe-Mahankal in Sangli was elected as group leader of the party, while Jaydutt Kshirsagar was elected as the deputy group leader.

NCP offer of unconditional support to the BJP for government formation in Maharashtra has prompted allegations that it is dictated by the party's desire to keep the corruption cases against it at bay. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had recently asked for permission for an open inquiry against former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and senior leader Sunil Tatkare in connection with the irrigation scam. Sources said on August 22, the ACB had sought permission from the state's home department, to initiate an open inquiry against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare.

Both the leaders were at the helm of the water resources department in the erstwhile Congress-NCP's democratic front government, which ruled the state for last 15 years.

The ACB sought permission from the state government to initiate the inquiry after activist Pravin Wategaonkar filed a complaint with the agency.