Stating that Congress is his "main friend", Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that he would prefer to align with it even after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Pawar's remarks comes in wake of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's reported comment that NCP was Congress' main rival during his campaign speeches for the local bodies polls. "I will say Congress is our main friend," Pawar said.
Reacting to the Chief Minister's statement that Congress should work to form next government in the state on its own, Pawar took potshots at Chavan saying, "He has given us inspiration to expand our base too. But, I would welcome suggestions from those, who are directly elected from the people."
Chavan was a Rajya Sabha MP as a central minister and is an MLC now.
Responding to another statement of Chavan while campaigning that NCP was born out of personal ambitions, Pawar said, his party was made up of self-made people, who are elected by masses. "We don't have leaders who are deputed," he said.
Ticking off his nephew and state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister RR Patil for commenting against Industries Minister Narayan Rane, Pawar said, he expected his party men to exercise restrain while attacking the Congress leaders personally.
"I appeal to my party leaders not to get provoked since we are in the government at the Centre, Maharashtra and in neighbouring Goa as well. After such personal attacks, it takes time to restore normalcy in the relations," he added.Pawar said NCP should concentrate on the development of rural Maharashtra as it was the party's main base and strength.
The NCP chief said that in some districts Congress and NCP are pitted against each other. "Both the parties have right to expand their base, but recent incidents like targetting Congress leaders personally should not be repeated," he said.
When asked if he wanted to convey this message to Congress leaders as well, Pawar said he would restrict himself to his party alone.
"I have not been campaigning in local bodies and civic polls for the last 15 years and will not do so this time as well. But, since Congress and NCP have decided to accord utmost importance to Mumbai civic polls, I will address joint rallies with Congress," he added.
He said, Congress and NCP will work hard to do well in Mumbai and wrest the country's premier civic body from Shiv Sena-BJP.
When asked if he plans to lend support from his friend (Bal Thackeray) after the election, Pawar said he shared personal friendship with Thackeray. "Both of us do not expect political support from each other," he said.
Pawar said, he expected UPA numbers to go up after theassembly elections in five states.
He denied that there was a lack of co-ordination between Congress and UPA partners. "After the assembly polls, there is a move to have an institutionalised set up for more co-ordination," he added.
Clarifying his remarks on AICC General secretary Rahul Gandhi made during an television interview, Pawar said the comments that Rahul does not take along party leaders from the particular region while on tour, were his observations.
He said while replying to questions on the Gandhi scion that he had complimented him for travelling in Uttar Pradesh to interact with people and also spoken about the new generation team coming up in the Congress party.
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