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Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar meet amidst

rumours of Congress-NCP merger

ongress President Rahul Gandhi Taking responsibility of the Congress Congress in 1999 after they questioned Sonia
met Nationalist Congress Party debacle, Rahul had offered to step down Gandhi’s right to lead the party on account of
(NCP) leader Sharad Pawar at the from the post. He had offered to resign at her foreign origins. The three leaders were
latter’s residence in Delhi. Sources the Congress Working Committee meeting expelled from the Congress and they went on
Csay that the leaders discussed the in Delhi but was unanimously rejected his to form the NCP.
possibility of a merger of the two parties. resignation. However, the NCP has been part of the
Amid speculation about a merger be- In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elec- Congress-led United Progressive Alliance,
tween the Congress and the Nationalist Con- tion, the Congress bagged 52 seats while NCP which is headed by Sonia Gandhi.
gress Party, Congress president Rahul Gandhi won 5 seats. Congress is two short of getting However, Nationalist Congress Party chief
met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar here. The the post of Leader of Opposition in Parlia- Sharad Pawar did not agree with the news or
meeting, which lasted close to an hour, was ment, as a party needs to win at least 10 per rumours of the likely merger, adding that he
held at Pawar’s residence. cent of Lok Sabha seats to be eligible for the and Gandhi discussed the Lok Sabha election
Insiders claim that if such a merger takes post. So the minimum seats required for the results, the drought and imminent Assem-
place, the Congress-NCP’s tally in the Lok same is 54 as the Lok Sabha has 543 elected bly polls in Maharashtra during their meet-
Sabha will go up to 57, and the merged party members. Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma, and ing. “At no stage was there any discussion on
will be eligible to get the Leader of the Oppo- Tariq Anwar formed NCP, an offshoot of the NCP’s merger with Congress. These are all
sition post. rumours.”
As a gesture, the Congress is likely to ac- Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson
commodate Pawar in this regard. However, a Nationalist Congress Nawab Malik too rejected reports of merger.
final decision on the merger is yet to be taken Party spokesperson “Prima facie, it appears that an attempt is
by both parties. Pawar was in the Congress being made to confuse NCP and Congress
before he floated the NCP in 1999. The NCP is Nawab Malik too rejected activists.”
part of the Congress-led UPA. reports of merger. However, the buzz remains in the corri-
The meeting comes amid uncertainty dors of power that the merger move was on
over who will be the next Congress president “Prima facie, it appears and it is a matter of time when the two parties
as Rahul has been adamant that he does not that an attempt is being announce it. The insiders say that the merger
want to continue at the post. Several Con- would be a win and win situation for the two
gress, as well as Opposition leaders, has been made to confuse NCP and sides keeping in view the impending Assem-
urging Rahul not to resign from the post and bly elections in Maharashtra- Tehelka Bureau
reconsider his decision. Congress activists.” LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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