Get ready for mid-term polls: Sharad Pawar to cadres

Mumbai: Anticipating mid-term Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has asked his senior party members to start preparing for the polls. NCP leaders have also started reaching out to every corner of the state while the party’s backroom team has started making note of issues that will be raised during the elections.

The tug of war between estranged state government allies Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena is likely to worsen after the Presidential election. There is buzz in political circles that the BJP will sever ties with the Sena and go it alone for the mid-term polls. These rumours gained traction after the government’s recent farm loan waiver decision. The BJP has urban areas of the state under its sway owing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma, but it needs support from rural pockets. Expectations of good rainfall and the fruits of the loan waiver will create a momentum for the saffron party.

NCP sources have said the party’s leadership has awoken to the reality of its poor performance in recent local bodies’ elections. The party, which was number one in 2012, has now shrunk to third position in the recent elections. Also, it has witnessed an exodus of its leaders to other parties, especially BJP. If the BJP opts for mid-term polls, it is being said that NCP could lose more seats and shrink from current tally of 42.

To prevent this, the NCP supremo has asked that poll preparations begin as soon as possible. NCP leaders like state chief Sunil Tatkare, former minister Ajit Pawar and MP Supriya Sule have started tours across the state. Also, the NCP chief will meet party leaders from each district in August to take stock of the situation. “We keep reading about the BJP and Sena threatening each other every day in the news. In such a scenario, there has been buzz about mid-term polls. We are preparing for this,” said Mr Tatkare.