Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has said that Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s decision to contest the local body polls independently was not out of line and that the INDIA bloc was meant for only the Lok Sabha polls. In what has come as a jolt to the Congress, Pawar indicated that he would prefer supporting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly polls instead of long-term ally, the Congress.
“The mandate for forming the INDIA bloc was to contest the elections at the national level. We have never discussed or talked about the municipal corporation and other local body polls together. However, since you (media) have written so much about it, all the leaders from the three parties would meet in the next 8 to 10 days and discuss the issue of the possibility of the three parties fighting the polls together,” Pawar told the media in Mumbai on Tuesday.
He hinted that Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s view to contest the local body polls was nothing out of the ordinary. “In Baramati and Indapur municipal polls, we (NCP (SP)) will fight alone.”
The NCP(SP) president has indicated that his party would support AAP in the Delhi assembly elections.
