Senior Congress leader and state minister of forest Patangrao Kadam on Saturday suggested that the merger of the NCP with the Congress was inevitable in the future.
He was speaking at an event to name a junior college of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) after late former MLA Aminuddin
Penwale.
Kadam said, “Congress and NCP are the same. They can come together again anytime.’’ He said NCP president and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is a leader who is accepted by all. Leaders of all political parties have condemned the attack on Pawar, he added.
NCP was formed on May 25, 1999 after leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi was challenged on account of her foreign origin. But since then, there have been many political changes. NCP fought Lok Sabha and assembly elections separately in 1999 against the Congress but later, formed an alliance with Congress to form the government in the state.
In the elections of 2004 and 2009, both the parties had a pre-poll alliance for both parliamentary and assembly elections. They also joined hands to form the government. Against this background, Kadam’s comment that both the parties can come together anytime again, assumes significance.
NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar who was supposed to attend the event, was absent.
PMC has constructed a junior college near Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Urdu High School in Bhavani Peth and it is named after Congress leader Penwale.
Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, MLC Ulhas Pawar, MLA Girish Bapat and chairman of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Pune Ankush Kakade were present.
