Sharad Pawar To Call For Opposition Unity At Sunday’s Conclave In Delhi

The 8^th All-India Convention of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will be held in New Delhi on Sunday (Sep 11) with the BJP as the main target. Party founder-president Sharad Pawar is expected to give a call for opposition unity, whose one-point agenda will be to dethrone Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Pawar has been meeting top opposition leaders in a bid to convince them to keep aside their regional priorities and join forces to contain the BJP’s campaign to win more states, especially West Bengal and Telangana. Similarly, the Gujarat assembly election next year will also figure in Pawar’s plans. The developments in Maharashtra in recent times have pushed the Congress and the NCP in a corner since the Shiv Sena faction under Uddhav Thackeray has kept its cards close to its chest about any possible tie-up for the coming civic elections.  In turn, the Congress and the Uddhav faction are wary of the NCP since their own MLAs have complained that during the Maha Vikas Aghadi tripartite regime, the NCP grabbed the largest share of government funding, depriving the two partners of developmental expenditure. Besides external issues, the Congress is shaken by its internal dissensions. As the NCP has only token presence in parliament, Pawar is trying to bring it back in the national mainstream. He will spell out his plan of action on Sunday, his supporters say.