Pawar keen on alliance

New Delhi
Sept. 13: The NCP supremo, Mr Sharad Pawar, on Sunday said his party is yet to receive a “specific proposal” from the Congress on next month’s Maharashtra Assembly polls, but made it clear that he does not want the alliance to break up for the sake of a few seats.
“I do not want the Congress-NCP alliance to break for two to four seats. Both the parties want to fight the Assembly elections together as it is in their interest and in the interest of the state,” Mr Pawar said after returning from Mumbai on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, he said, although leaders of the two parties were discussing the issue (pre poll alliance) informally, they have not discussed sharing of seats.
When his attention was drawn to the statements of some leaders that both the Congress and NCP are preparing to contest all the 288 Assembly seats, Mr Pawar said, there was nothing wrong in it.
He further said every political party has to prepare for all the seats at stake till the issue of an alliance is finalised.
Asked whether the Congress was pushing for taking into account the new ground realities after the recent Lok Sabha polls, he said, “at least no one has talked to me.”
Asked whether the alliance will break, Mr Pawar said, “Let us hope there is understanding.”
In a related development, the defence minister and AICC pointsman for Maharashtra, Mr A.K. Antony, and the Congress president’s political secretary, Mr Ahmed Patel, met Mrs Sonia Gandhi on Sunday evening. But they sped past waiting newsmen outside Mrs Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence without talking to them.
If insiders are to be believed, a formal decision on the alliance would be taken only after Mrs Gandhi returns from Mumbai on Monday night.
Source::DC