Meanwhile, former Congress chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan have expressed their displeasure over the NCP stand.
After the poor performance by Congress in the preceding five state assembly elections, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has conveyed to its cadre to be prepared to go solo in the upcoming state elections.
Senior NCP leader Praful Patel said the Congress support base was ebbing in each election. "So, we no more completely depend on the Congress as an ally. We have to strengthen our network and be prepared to go solo as well," he recently told the party workers in a meeting.
"After the Lok sabha elections, we expected that the Congress will bounce back and emerge as a strong Opposition at the Centre and the state. But its performance is abysmal. On the other hand, the regional parties are doing better and people are reposing their faith in them. Going with Congress may harm our prospects. Earlier, we had left most constituencies and areas for Congress as part of an alliance. Now we have to rework our strategy. We have asked our cadre to expand the NCP network where we had no footprint at all," said the senior NCP leader.
Another NCP leader said they were worried about the Congress leadership. "Congress president Sonia Gandhi was a more accommodating and dynamic leader. But there is a buzz that vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be promoted as the president, as Sonia has some health issues. Rahul has failed to attract voters. Blaming his leadership, many Congress leaders are resigning and leaving the party. Continual eroding of Congress's support base and the negative publicity will automatically hamper us as well, if we decide to go along with them," he added, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, former Congress chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan have expressed their displeasure over the NCP stand. "NCP is an opportunist party. They do not have an ideology. They may create an alliance with the BJP also. They should clear their stand – whether they want to remain with secular parties or go with the fascist force. They hobnobbed with us when they needed our support in the legislative council elections. Now, they are criticising the Congress. This double standard will not help them. People are more shrewd than earlier. They understand all these things," they said.
"It is not true that the Congress is going down. In fact, we are emerging as number one party in Maharashtra. If the NCP wants to go solo, they are most welcome," said a leader, requesting.
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