Nationalist Congress Party workers want the Sharad Pawar-led outfit to contest four Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region -- Gadchiroli, Ramtek, Wardha, and Amravati -- as they feel the organization has developed a good support base among voters in these constituencies, state NCP president Jayant Patil said on Wednesday.
He said the demand to contest these constituencies was made at a review meeting, chaired by NCP president Sharad Pawar here, where Lok Sabha seats located in the Vidarbha region were discussed as part of preparations for the next year's general elections.
The region in eastern Maharashtra, considered a stronghold of the BJP, has 10 Lok Sabha seats. Currently, the NCP has four Lok Sabha MPs from Maharashtra, but no seat in Vidarbha.
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Patil told reporters after the meeting that NCP workers thought that the party has developed a good support base in these four constituencies and it should field candidates there.
The NCP leader also targeted Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for conducting a "survey" to show he is more popular in Maharashtra than his deputy Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP, saying he should focus on the welfare of farmers as Assembly polls are still more than a year away.
"Elections are still a year away...what is the need for a popularity test?" asked the former state minister.
Fadnavis and Shinde will not do anything to disturb an alliance (between the ruling Shiv Sena and BJP) which is already "fragile" as they are afraid of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), he said.
The MVA consists of the Congress, the NCP, and the Shiv Sena (UBT).
