NCP to tie up with Samajwadi Party in UP elections: Pawar

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said his party would contest the ensuing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as part of the Samajwadi Party-led alliance. He also said 13 members of the Legislative Assembly in Uttar Pradesh will be joining the Samajwadi Party. Talking to reporters here, Pawar said people of Uttar Pradesh are looking for parivartan (change) in the northern state, adding it will happen.

"Voters will give a befitting reply to the communal polarization being done in UP ahead of the polls," he said. NCP will also contest the ensuing Assembly elections Goa and Manipur, he said. In Manipur, NCP will have an understanding with the Congress, while in Goa, it is in talks with the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, he added.

Pawar slammed UP CM Yogi Adityanath over the latter's "80:20" remarks. Yogi Adityanath has called the UP election an "80 versus 20 battle", in a highly controversial comment seen to imply a religious divide. The numbers citied by him roughly correspond to the ratio of Hindus to Muslims in UP. "Such remarks don't befit the stature of a chief minister. But that is their (BJP) ideology…People of UP will give a befitting response to such ideology," Pawar said.

On Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya quitting the state cabinet to join Samajwadi Party, Pawar said, "Maurya has made a new beginning. This won't stop here. Every day some new faces will 'migrate' in the run up to the voting." Former UP Congress MLC Siraj Mehndi joined the NCP in presence of Pawar. The NCP chief said the party will benefit from his experience.