Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he will make an all-out effort to ensure the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the alliance of NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) and Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), contests the upcoming Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections together.
He also said that the people of the western state are looking for a change and want the Opposition to come together.
“My efforts will be to ensure that the constituents of MVA remain together, take joint decisions, and face the state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections together,” he said, while speaking to reporters after the newly-elected Congress MLA from Kasba Peth Assembly constituency in Pune city, Ravindra Dhangekar, visited the NCP chief at his Silver Oak residence.
“I am roaming in the state and the people are telling me that they want a change. They want us (the Opposition) to come together. These are people’s sentiments,” Pawar added.
Speaking about Dhangekar, Pawar said that the MLA was elected from Kasba Peth as he has been working with people for several years.
The Kasba Peth by-election results came as a shocker for the BJP, which was its stronghold when Congress-MVA candidate Dhangekar trounced BJP’s Hemant Rasne by more than 10,800 votes. Polling for the bypoll was held on February 27, and the results were announced on March 2.
Following the poll outcomes, Pawar said that the saffron party’s defeat in its bastion indicated that change was coming.
The MVA was formed after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections when former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray fell out with old ally BJP.