NCP should merge with Congress

When the issue that caused parting of ways from the Congress by Sharad Pawar and susequent fornmation of Natinalist Congress party ceased to exist, there was no relevance in keeping the party afloat separely from the parent body Congress. The issue of separation from the Congress was the foreign origin of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. That issue is no longer relevant and the motive of Sharad Pawar behind formation of NCP to present before the desi alternative of the Congress failed to fructify miserably. There is no ideological dissimilarity between the Congress and NCP. NCP has the same ideology as Congress and all its leaders have Congress background.The prominent leaders who broke away with Congress under the leadrship of Sharad Pawar too like to merge the NCP Congress with its estranged parant Congress That is why there is no meaning in keeping afloat. With the passing of time, NCP is also losing its ground in Maharatra which has been reflected in the result of just-concluded Lok Sabha elections. However, Congress is going from strength to strength. Congress tally of LS members has risen up to 17 while NCP tally dropped to 8 from 11in Maharashtra in the just-concluded LS election. NCP also can not be a regional party to reckon with in Maharashtra as there are already two powerful regional outfits Shiv Sena and MNS nor it itself has regional outlook. The NCP is virtually confined to Maharashtra, though it reflects national ambition. The cosying up of former LS Speaker and senior NCP leader P A Sangama with Sonia Gandhi and the disgust expressed by Praful Patel, a strong NCP leader and Union Minister, over Sharad Pawar’s inclination of imposing dynastic political culture on the party amply reflect that majority of NCP leaders are in favour of merging with the Congress, though Sharad Pawar has already ruled it out. The growing clout of Sharad Pawar daughter and BaramatiMP of the party Supriya Sule does not appear to go down well with the senior leaders of the party. The day Sharad Pawar parted ways with Congress, he reflected his national ambition. But the resurgence of Congress under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi appears to have dashed his national ambition to the ground. It would be in the interest of the nation if secular forces in the country like NCP merges with Congress and fight Maharashtra assembly elections in a concerted a way to defeat the divisionary elements. Sharad Pawar himself is a veteran politician and known for upholding secular values in the country. Despite having good personal relation with Bal Thackeray, he has always differed with his politics of division. It is also a fact that there is no relevance of NCP in view of the resurging Congress and ideological similarity between the two. Maharashtra is goiung to polls in October. Congress is gaining the ground in the state with each passing day. If the NCP merger could not be possible, there must be pre-poll alliance between the Congress and NCP to return the NCP-Congress coalition to power.