Pune: Amid speculation of a possible merger of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar with Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, its Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule on Wednesday asserted that the party will not merge with any other political entity.
She was addressing reporters following a meeting of the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) at party chief Sharad Pawar's residence in Pune. Apart from Pawar and Sule, former Maharashtra ministers Anil Deshmukh and Rajesh Tope, MPs Amol Kolhe and Shrinivas Patil along with other leaders attended the meeting.
'Will not merge with any political party'
"Our faction will not merge with any political party. We will contest the upcoming polls as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)," Sule said when asked about reports of her party's merger.
"Today's meeting was aimed at planning for an upcoming rally (of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc). The discussion revolved around the names of leaders who will address the rally," she said
Prashant Jagtap, the president of the Pune city unit of the party, said, "Reports regarding the merger of our party are incorrect. We will come forward with a new name and a new symbol."
"Today's meeting was held in view of the upcoming Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha elections. Talks were also held on the February 24 rally of the INDIA alliance in Pune," he added.
Anil Deshmukh also refuted claims suggesting that the NCP (led by Sharad Pawar) would merge with any other political party.
EC gives NCP name, symbol to Ajit Pawar
The Election Commission of India (ECI) last week allotted the party name 'NCP' and poll symbol 'clock' to the Ajit Pawar-led group.
The decision followed the laid-out tests of maintainability of such a petition which included tests of aims and objectives of party constitution, test of the party constitution and tests of a majority both organisational and legislative, the commission said. “The test of majority in the legislative wing found favour in this circumstance of the case, where both groups have found to be working outside the party constitution and the organisational elections," the poll authority observed.
The NCP was split in July last year after senior leader Ajit Pawar along with eight other MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
(With PTI inputs)
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