“There should be clarity on which party is merging with which,” MP Sunil Tatkare said in Karad, located in Maharashtra’s Satara district
MP Sunil Tatkare. File Pic
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sunil Tatkare on Monday said the party, under the late Ajit Pawar’s leadership, had taken a collective decision to join the BJP-led NDA and would continue with the alliance. According to the news agency PTI, he said that those talking about a merger between the two NCP factions must clarify their stand on the issue.
“There should be clarity on which party is merging with which,” Tatkare told reporters in Karad, located in Maharashtra’s Satara district.
He was speaking while accompanying Maharashtra’s newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Sunetra Pawar, who paid tributes at the memorial of the state’s first Chief Minister, YB Chavan, in Karad.
Sunetra Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister on Saturday, three days after her husband and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash in Baramati in Pune district.
Before taking the oath, she was elected as the NCP’s legislative party leader during a meeting held in Mumbai.
Replying to a question on his opposition to the proposed merger, Tatkare said there was no question of him or party MP Praful Patel holding a different opinion on the issue, reported PTI.
“Under the leadership of Ajit Dada, we had taken a collective decision to join the BJP-led NDA, and the people of the state have stamped their approval of Ajit Dada’s decision in the Assembly elections. Those speaking of a merger should answer whether they are fine with it,” he said, reported PTI.
The Lok Sabha member also asserted that the NCP legislature party was strong enough to take its own decisions, including appointing a new leader.
Leaders of the Opposition NCP (SP), including its chief Sharad Pawar, have claimed that the merger talks were at an advanced stage and that his nephew Ajit Pawar had finalised February 12 to announce a merger between the NCP factions.
NCP merger could not happen without BJP having information: CM Fadnavis
Maharashtra CM Fadnavis on Sunday said that if talks about the merger of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions were at an advanced stage, the late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar would have informed him, reported the PTI.
Speaking to reporters, CM Fadnavis said that Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash in Baramati in Pune district in Maharashtra on January 28, shared all important political matters with him.
He said he had no information about any proposed merger date.
(With PTI inputs)
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