NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday ruled out his party joining hands with any other political formation, saying that those seeking to unite with it would have to join the party instead.
The state government has declared drought in 265 of Maharashtra’s 358 talukas and announced relief measures including crop-loan restructuring, land-revenue concessions and power-bill subsidies.
“We don’t want to fight. We will urge the government. NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule demanded that funds earmarked for the Shaktipeeth Expressway be diverted towards drought relief and farm-loan waivers. Pawar also urged the government to create greater awareness among farmers about the relief measures available to them and recalled his experience of handling drought-related issues as Union agriculture minister.
NCP (SP) Maharashtra president Shashikant Shinde later said Pawar had made it clear that any unification was possible only if the other faction merged with the NCP (SP). NCP leaders, however, said there was no proposal for a merger. State president Sunil Tatkare said Shinde’s remarks represented the stand of the NCP (SP). NCP spokesperson Suraj Chavan said his party had neither sent nor received any merger proposal. “There is no official talk of a merger,” he said. At the meeting, Pawar also said the NCP (SP) would take to the streets if the state government failed to accept its demands on drought relief. If our demands are not accepted in the next two to four days, we will take to the streets and fight,” he said. Pawar said several drought-hit talukas had not been covered and pointed out that banana growers had also been left out of the assistance. She said the party’s MLAs had decided to donate one month’s salary towards drought-relief work. “The party is in a mood to fight,” Sule said at the meeting, adding that she was overwhelmed by the response from workers.
