Ajit Pawar sets targets for 2024: ‘Topper’ in Assembly, double digits in Lok Sabha

“It is time that we cross the 10-seat mark in this election. Our highest is eight till now in Lok Sabha which we must try to change in this election,” Pawar told the party workers.

Later addressing a press conference, when asked about seat-sharing in Lok Sabha, Pawar said that it will be finalised by the three parties and media will be informed at the right time. Pawar also reminded that NCP’s highest tally of 71 in state Assembly was in 2004 and that also needs to be surpassed.

“We have to emerge as topper in the state,” he said, asking the party organisation to begin working on war-footing from January 1. “I don’t want to see any vacant post in the organisational hierarchy by this month-end. From January 1, the entire organisation will have to work on war-footing,” he reportedly told the party workers. The Deputy Chief Minister also stressed in his speech that there will be no compromise on the values of secularism and progressive ideas. “We have a separate identity and we will maintain that. There have been examples like Mehbooba Mufti and Nitish Kumar who did not give up on these core values and still formed the government with the BJP,” he said.

When asked whether he has received an invitation for the Ram temple inauguration ceremony, Pawar said he has not.