There is a need to provide a strong political alternative at the national level, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on December 1, following his meeting with Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee in Mumbai.
Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister, has been recently reaching out to an array of regional parties. Her meeting with Pawar came a day after she held discussions with Shiv Sena leaders Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray.
According to Pawar, Banerjee's intention is to bring all "like-minded" political forces together to challenge the Centre-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next general elections.
"Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray met her. Today, my colleagues and I had a long chat with her. Her intention is, in today's situation like-minded forces have to come together at national level and set up collective leadership," news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
"We have to provide a strong alternative to leadership. Our thinking is not for today, but for election. This has to be established and with that intention, she has visited and had a very positive discussion with all of us," added Pawar, who is considered as the architect of the Congress-Shiv Sena- NCP coalition government in the state.
Banerjee's meetings with NCP and Shiv Sena leaders assume significance as she has recently sounded critical of the Congress -- the country's prime opposition party.
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Following her interaction with Pawar, the TMC supremo indicated that she may be planning a fresh coalition of opposition parties. "What is UPA? There is no UPA," she remarked. The UPA or United Progressive Alliance was, notably, the Congress-led coalition which was in power at the Centre from 2004-2014.
Banerjee, who was recently in Delhi, had raised eyebrows after she decided to not to visit Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Political observers also linked this to the crossover of 12 Congress legislators in Meghalaya, including former CM Mukul Sangma, to the Trinamool.
Apart from the defection of 12 of its 17 Meghalaya MLAs, Congress also faced a setback as two of its senior leaders - Kirti Azad and Ashok Tanwar - joined Banerjee's party on November 23.
Furthermore, the TMC is also in a sharp contest against the Congress in Goa, where the latter was considered as the prime opposition party to challenge the ruling BJP in the upcoming legislative assembly elections.
Earlier on December 1, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the TMC has the right to expand its political base in all parts of the country. However, he underlined that the Opposition cannot be united without the Congress.
"We believe that a united Opposition front is not possible excluding Congress. Pawar sahab has clarified this several times," added Malik, who is also a minister in the Maharashtra government.
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