Alliance with NDA no good, look where it got Naidu: Pawar

With Congress leaders in Maharashtra getting increasingly wary of his future moves, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar ...

With Congress leaders in Maharashtra getting increasingly wary of his future moves, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar today catagorically ruled out being in the race for prime ministership.

‘‘In my opinion, it is not proper for a leader of a party that has contested only 30 seats to eye the prime minister’s post,’’ he said while speaking to mediapersons after participating in a couple of meetings called by Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today.

Though the NCP jointly contested the Lok Sabha elections with the Congress in Maharashtra, several leaders from the Congress are still doubtful whether Pawar would continue his honeymoon with their party.

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Speculation that Pawar was working out a secret deal with the BJP was rife a day after Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat met him at his New Delhi residence three days ago. It had also prompted Shinde to caustically remark that leaders of small parties were dreaming of the prime ministerial office.

Today, with the Congress camp upbeat over the Andhra Pradesh results, Pawar chose to kill the rumours. ‘‘I have already made my stand clear. The NCP will remain with the non-NDA formation,’’ he stressed.

Pawar also pointed out that the parties which had joined forces with the BJP had lost in their respective states. ‘‘Look what happened to Chandrababu Naidu. One of the reasons why he lost in Andhra Pradesh was his alliance with the BJP,’’ he remarked.

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