Bhubaneswar, April 08: Five days after failing to
share a platform with the Left and the BJD, NCP chief Sharad
Pawar today exhorted all secular forces to unite, saying that
he did not know what would happen after the general elections.
"If we have to keep the country together secular forces
have to come together as well," Pawar, flanked by Orissa Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik and CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram
Yechuri told a joint press conference here.
Pawar who had kept away from the Left-BJD-NCP rally on
April 3 citing a technical snag in the aircraft which was to
carry him, after the Congress expressed disapproval, said,
"What we are doing is a conscious decision."
He explained that the coming together of the NCP with
the BJD and the Left was 'Orissa specific'.
"This combination will show a new path both to Orissa
and the nation," Yechuri said, adding "we want Naveen Patnaik
as the head of the government here."
Yechuri said that their's was not a front, but
adjustments of seats among several parties. Recalling that the
Left had excellent relations with the late Biju Patnaik in the
early 1990s, he said it had been renewed with the BJD.
"We hope that Naveen will be returned as chief
minister after the elections and that will be our endeavour."
The chief minister reiterated BJD's support to a
non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre after polls.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, April 08, 2009, 00:00