As senior leaders of the Congress and NCP work towards an alliance for next year’s Lok Sabha and assembly elections, both parties have urged their workers to bury their differences and try to work with members of the other party. At an event in Pune on Tuesday, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the Congress and NCP will join hands to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha election. He cited the example of the recent bypoll in Uttar Pradesh, in which the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party teamed up against the BJP, and said the bypoll results had shown that a pre-poll alliance of secular parties could defeat the BJP. Alliance partners for years, the Congress and the NCP contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election together, but parted ways shortly thereafter, and fought the 2014 assembly elections separately. The end of the alliance gave workers of the Congress and NCP a chance to take on each other openly, and the feuds intensified further as the parties contested subsequent local elections independently. Chavan himself had been openly critical of the NCP as it had pulled down the alliance government in the state, led by him, ahead of the 2014 assembly election. Congress leaders had accused the NCP of indulging in “politics of opportunity” after the latter offered to extend outside support to the BJP in the state. The Congress leader pointed out that while the BJP-led alliance had won the maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha election, it had secured less than 50 per cent of the vote share, which meant that “most voters were against them”. A pre-poll alliance of like-minded parties would scuttle the chances of the BJP-led alliance, said Chavan. NCP MP Supriya Sule, daughter of party chief Sharad Pawar, said the Congress and the NCP are “siblings”. “It is the culture of the Congress to establish a connect with the public and have the commitment to resolve their problems. the two parties are siblings,” she said. The presence of NCP leaders at recent Congress functions has also indicated that local party leaders are trying to put their differences aside and fight elections together. NCP chief Sharad Pawar is going to be the chief guest for an event on May 1, Maharashtra Day, to inaugurate a civic project that is the initiative of senior Congress leader Ulhas Bagul. The pre-poll alliance is likely to continue for the assembly election next year. City Congress chief Ramesh Bagawe said the party high command has taken steps to unite secular parties for the 2019 assembly election. “The party leadership, as well as party workers, have realised that to keep the BJP-led alliance out of power, we need to be united. The division of votes in the previous elections had benefited the BJP and its alliance partners. that should not happen again,” said Bagawe. Local NCP leaders said they have already been asked by the top leadership to start preparing for the Lok Sabha election. “Party workers have been informed of the pre-poll alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha election. They have been asked to work hard to defeat the BJP, irrespective of whether a Congress or a NCP candidate contested from their respective constituency,” said a party leader.
