Pawar to hold meeting over Lok Sabha polls

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will hold a state-level meeting in Mumbai on Saturday to discuss the strategy for the Lok Sabha (LS) elections. NCP chief Sharad Pawar will meet party workers from all Lok Sabha constituencies. The meeting will take place to review the party position in each LS constituency in the state and possible candidates.

The NCP contested 21 LS seats in the 2014 elections. It was in alliance with the Congress which at the time contested 26 seats. One went to the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi. However, NCP won 4 and Congress won only 2 seats. So this time, the NCP is eyeing an equal number of seats as the Congress.

According to sources, Mr Pawar has already discussed each seat with senior leaders of his party. “On Saturday, Mr Pawar will ask important leaders from all constituencies about their position and claims. He will discuss which seats need to be asked from the Congress and which need to be swapped,” said a senior NCP leader.

This time, the NCP is trying to reach double digits. The party knows that it stands a chance to increase its tally only in western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Konkan. Therefore, it is being said that the party may ask for more seats in western Maharashtra and Marathwada.

Pune in western Maharashtra and Auran-gabad in Marathwada are being claimed by the NCP. The meeting on Saturday will give an idea about the party’s strategy.

“Mr Pawar will guide workers from all constituencies. There will be interaction between lea-ders and him. Also, we will focus on the party’s organisational strength and the possibility of an alliance with like-minded parties,” said Nawab Malik.