Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has urged his party workers to be prepared for the Maharashtra Assembly elections due later this year, asserting that they will return to power in the state, according to reports from the ANI.
Pawar, along with his daughter Supriya Sule, MP from Baramati, and other party leaders, attended the NCP-SCP Foundation Day program on Monday in Pune.
On the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the party, Sharad Pawar, addressing his party workers, said: “Today I just want to say that in the last 25 years we have tried to spread ideologies that will take what lies ahead …since the elections are near, it is our collective responsibility to work towards the goal of working so that the power of the state is in their hands after the election results,” ANI reported.
Apart from attacking the BJP-led NDA government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to ANI reports, Pawar, referring to the Lok Sabha poll results, claimed that Prime Minister Modi does not have the mandate.
Pawar added: “The country is going through a very different situation these days… if you see the election results, the mandate is not that of Modi and the number of his MPs has reduced. They got help from Bihar and the TDP “For the last five years, they ran the government according to their wishes, they did not listen to anyone; before, this was their situation, but now the situation has changed. People have become very smart now.”
Supriya Sule, who was also present at the event, said, “Pawar Saheb has spoken to Sonia Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray and said that we will put up a strong fight in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.”
Extending his wishes to the newly appointed ministers from Maharashtra in PM Modi’s cabinet, Sule said, “I want them to work for the development of Maharashtra.”
Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999 after breaking away from the Congress. Last July, following political turmoil in the NCP, the party split into two after Ajit Pawar and some other MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.
However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) managed to retain its political ground by contesting as a member of the “Maha Vikas Aghadi” (MVA) coalition. The alliance won thirty of the forty-eight Lok Sabha seats in the state; in Maharashtra, the NCP (SP) won eight seats, the Congress thirteen and the Shiv Sena (UBT) nine.
The “Mahayuti” alliance suffered a severe blow, winning only 17 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won nine seats, the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) eight and the NCP is an ally in the “Mahayuti” coalition.