New Delhi: Congress and NCP tonight
projected a united strength in the backdrop of the recent
meeting between Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena supremo Bal
Thackeray which had triggered a controversy.
"Relations between Congress and NCP are improving,"
senior Congress leader A K Antony told reporters here when
asked about Pawar`s meeting with Thackeray after Sena had
threatened that it would not allow Australian players to play
IPL cricket matches in Maharashtra.
Leaders of the two ruling parties had come together for
the first meeting of the Congress-NCP Co-ordination Committee
after their victory in the Maharashtra assembly polls late
last year.
NCP General Secretary Praful Patel said Shiv Sena and MNS
were political opponents of both Congress and NCP.
Asked about Pawar`s meeting with Thackeray, Patel said
the two leaders had discussed cricket and no other meaning
should be read into it.
During the committee meeting, the leaders are understood
to have discussed the agenda for governance in Maharashtra.
The two parties are partners in power, both at the Centre
and in Maharashtra, and the leaders deliberated on fulfilling
the expectations of the people of the state, Patel said.
Asked whether Pawar being blamed for price rise was
discussed, he said it was a matter of collective
responsibility of the Central government. The UPA government
was taking several steps to rein in rising prices, he said.
Besides Antony and Patel, the meeting was attended by
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, state
and Mumbai unit chiefs of both the parties.
PTI
