Nagpur, Mar 09: The NCP would respond “positively” to any offer from Congress for pre-poll alliance in Maharashtra, NCP president Sharad Pawar announced today. Pawar, addressing a press conference here, referred to a similar idea mooted by All India Congress Committee general secretary Vayalar Ravi about the “need for a pre-poll alliance between secular parties in Maharashtra to keep the communal sena-BJP alliance away from power.”
''If Congress endorses the Ravi formula then NCP would like to extend a positive response to it'', he added.
In reply to a question about the recent row over unveiling of portrait of Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament, he said NCP was not a party to it. "When an unanimous decision was taken at an all party meet to unveil a portrait, there was no point in raising objections later", he argued.
Having a dig at RSS, Pawar said "they never supported Savarkar during his lifetime. They were not inclined to accept his reformist views. I am happy that they are now endorsing his views". Bureau Report