Ajit Pawar-led NCP to fight LS polls as NDA ally; seat-sharing talks yet to begin: Tatkare

Mumbai, Oct 19 (PTI) Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Maharashtra unit president Sunil Tatkare on Thursday said his party will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the BJP and the Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde as NDA allies, but seat-sharing talks among them are yet to begin.

Top leaders of the three parties will finalise the seat-sharing deal, he told reporters here.

"Our party will fight the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners," Tatkare said.

"All the NCP legislators except a few are with Ajit Pawar. All of them remain present at the legislature party meeting held every week," he said.

Referring to the alleged suicide by a 45-year-old man in Mumbai's Bandra area early on Thursday over the Maratha quota demand, Tatkare said it was an unfortunate incident.

"We demand that the Maratha community should get reservation without the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota being hurt," the Lok Sabha member said.

Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party joined the Eknath Shinde-led government on July 2, leading to a split in the party founded by veteran leader Sharad Pawar in 1999.

Lok Sabha elections are due in April-May 2024, while the Maharashtra assembly polls will be held a few months after that in October-November. PTI MR NP