NCP not merging with Congress: Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar while speaking with DNA on Thursday scoffed at and dismissed media reports suggesting his party's merger with the Congress. The trigger for the speculations was his hour-long meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday at Pawar's 6 Janpath residence.

Minutes after both leaders met, rumours that Pawar and Gandhi had initiated talks for NCP's merger in the Congress and how this will enable the Congress to get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (LS), started doing the rounds.

The Congress, given it's current position, will not get the post of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha for a second time in a row. A party has to get 10 per cent of the total seats in the lower house of Parliament to get the post of LoP. In effect, a party should have 55 out of the 543 LS seats to get the LoP post. Congress has won 52 seats, three short of the numbers required to get the post.

Even if NCP decides to support Congress as a constituent of the UPA, the Congress will not get the LoP post. The only available option is Congress's offer to NCP for a merger, which will enable it to cobble up enough numbers. In return, Pawar can become the Congress party president, especially when the Gandhi scion has been steadfast on his decision to step down following the party's defeat.

However, Pawar outright denied the rumours. "It is true that I met Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The meeting was already planned. We carried out an extensive analysis of the LS election,'' he told DNA. Pawar said a merger was not on the agenda.

Even though Pawar has denied the merger move, it was exactly 20 years ago on May 30, 1999, that Pawar along with PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar, were expelled from the Congress for raking up the issue of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. Thereafter, Pawar formed the NCP. However, soon after the LS polls, he joined the Congress-led government at the Centre. Similarly, after the state assembly elections in Maharashtra, NCP joined hands with Congress to keep Shiv Sena and BJP at bay.

Pawar has long maintained that Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin is no more relevant and has been maintaining cordial relations with the Congress party and Rahul. Ahead of the LS election, Pawar was at the Centre to bring together opposition parties, including Congress, to arrive at a broader understanding to put up a united fight against the Modi government.