Make NCP strongest party in Maharashtra, Jayant Patil tells workers

Ahead of the 2019 elections, the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Maharashtra president Jayant Patil wants to make his outfit the strongest in the state. Writing an open letter to the party workers urging them to work hard in this regard, Patil said the party will evaluate performance of the office-bearers and non-performers will be removed.

In the open letter posted on Facebook on Thursday, the state NCP chief also said the setback faced by NCP in local body elections after 2014 was due to the baseless allegations made against their senior leaders, which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has failed to prove even after four years in power. Senior NCP leaders such as Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare were named in the alleged irrigation scam worth thousands of crores.

Prior to 2014, the NCP in alliance with the Congress was in government for 15 years. The party was also ruling a significant number of local bodies in the state but lost many to the BJP in the past four years. In the last assembly polls, the party’s tally in the state assembly fell to 41 seats from 62 in 2009. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls too, it could register victory in only four seats in Maharashtra, from eight in 2009.

The NCP is now gearing up for the 2019 elections and has declared to form pre-poll alliance with Congress. Both the Congress and NCP are also trying to bring other like-minded parties together to form a mega alliance against the ruling dispensation.

“We have to make our party strongest in the state and for that I need active support of yours,” the letter on Patil’s FB page stated, adding, “The party will give opportunity and responsibilities to hard-working and efficient workers in future. Evaluation of performance of the office bearers will be also done at regular intervals and if needed, non-performers will be relieved from their responsibilities,” he said.