Senior NCP leaders Jayant Patel and Jitendra Awhad met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his official residence in Mumbai on Thursday evening, fueling speculation that the opposition party was on the verge of an alliance with the NDA.
People familiar with the matter said that the closed meeting between the three leaders lasted for about an hour. A Sena insider said Shinde postponed his departure for New Delhi to attend a meeting of NDA members headed by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, in order to meet the two leaders in Mumbai.
The meeting came soon a day after Supriya Sule, national working president of the National Congress Party (SP), announced that her party would consider supporting the Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women and fix limits if the central government accepts their demands. But she clarified that the party’s official position has not yet been determined.
On Tuesday night, Jayant Patel was at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ residence, where senior leaders of the rival NCP faction Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare were also present. Two weeks ago, Jayant Patil also met BJP national general secretary Vinod Tode, after which two senior NCP leaders told HT that their party is exploring options. “We cannot say that things will go a certain way, but we are exploring the option of joining the NDA directly or indirectly,” said one of the leaders, who requested anonymity.
Read also: Jayant Patel asks NCP (SP) MLAs to prepare for a possible NDA alliance
The two leaders said three options could be explored – merging the two National Congress parties; Join the NDA separately if Deputy Prime Minister and NCP chief Sunetra Pawar does not agree to the merger; And support the National Democratic Rally on specific issues, without joining the coalition.
