NCP will contest UP assembly polls in alliance with SP; talks on with Congress, Trinamool for Goa, says Sharad Pawar

MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced that his party will be contesting the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections 2022 in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party.

In Uttar Pradesh, we are going to contest elections with Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties: NCP Chief Sharad Pawar pic.twitter.com/5CDuiFMw3X — ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2022

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Pawar accused the ruling BJP of polarizing the electorate in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the crucial assembly elections. The NCP veteran went on to claim that 13 BJP MLAs in Uttar Pradesh will quit the saffron party and join SP.

The NCP supremo's claim on BJP lawmakers comes just hours after state minister and senior BJP Swami Prasad Maurya today resigned from the Yogi Adityanath-led Cabinet in UP.

"The people of UP will give a befitting reply to this. The people of Uttar Pradesh are looking for change. We will surely see the change in the State," the NCP chief said. Pawar also claimed that NCP was having talks with Congress and Trinamool Congress to stitch an alliance for the Goa elections 2022.

Pawar said that talks are on with ‘like-minded parties’ to give a joint fight to oust BJP from power in next month's Assembly elections in the coastal state. “NCP leader Praful Patel, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut are talking with local Congress leaders there,” Pawar told reporters. 

We are in talks with Congress and Trinamool Congress for an alliance for Goa Assembly elections: NCP Chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai pic.twitter.com/gxQZzuo2QC

— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2022

There is common thinking that BJP should be defeated there and talks are in progress with like-minded parties, he said. “Our desire is that parivartan (change) is needed in Goa. There is a need to oust BJP from power there,” he said. 

On claims of security lapse during of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit, Pawar said, “The post of prime minister is an institution and security is the responsibility of the Centre and the state and necessary care needs to be taken.”