lok-sabha-elections

Updated: May 03, 2019 07:21 IST

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar wants his party to start preparations for the state assembly elections scheduled later this year after the conclusion of Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, according to people aware of the development.

Pawar will hold a meeting of his MLAs, MPs and district presidents in Mumbai on Saturday as part of the plan. Lok Sabha election candidates, too, have been asked to be present. “Pawar wants to assess the party’s performance in the general elections and the major issues in the state, especially the drought. Senior leaders will also deliberate on the strategy to be adopted to corner [Maharashtra]’s Devendra Fadnavis-led government,” a party leader said.

Pawar also started a tour of drought-affected areas a day after the Lok Sabha elections were over in Maharashtra on April 29.

The NCP chief believes drought can become an election issue in rural areas that account for around half of the state’s 288 assembly seats, said another NCP functionary.

NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said, “Drought has become severe. The meeting is to discuss it and decide how to help the affected people.”

The NCP could win only four seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In 2009, it had won eight. In the 2004 assembly polls, the NCP became the biggest party in the state, winning 71 assembly seats, two more than the Congress. The Congress-NCP alliance, which ruled the state for 15 years, had split just ahead of the 2014 assembly polls, despite a debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

Both the parties are hoping for better performance. They have contested the Lok Sabha elections together and are expected to continue the alliance for the assembly elections. “We are expecting better performance in the Lok Sabha elections, which will ultimately come as a boost for the party,” said a third NCP leader.

“Despite losing badly in 2014, the NCP managed to win 41 seats in the assembly elections held the same year. If we perform well in the general polls, we will be in a position to make a comeback in the assembly elections,” he said.