Blog

Amid the ongoing reports that the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar is set to back the BJP-led government’s contentious bill to conduct the next delimitation exercise, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule on Wednesday clarified that the reports circulating regarding the party’s role are based on sources. She added that the party has not issued any official statement in this regard and said that NCP (SP) will formulate its stance once the Bill will be introduced.

“We have neither held discussions with anyone regarding delimitation, nor has anyone approached us about it. We will formulate our stance once the Bill is introduced,” Sule said, adding, “However, we will discuss any upcoming Bill in detail within the INDIA alliance.”

Sule said if delimitation is based on population, it could result in an injustice to the southern states and said the NCP (SP) would support the Centre’s proposed delimitation Bill, adding a rider that it needs to provide for a 50 percent increase in Lok Sabha seats across all states.

“Parties like the DMK, SP, and ourselves had stated that we would consider the 50 percent quota issue. The INDIA alliance did not demand the delimitation; we demand that a 33 percent reservation for women should be implemented,” she stated.

Additionally, the NCP (SP) MP informed that during the previous Budget Session, Kiren Rijiju had invited her, Asaduddin Owaisi and Arvind Sawant. “He was inviting parties individually, and we met with the country’s Home Minister, Amit Shah and Kiren Rijiju. Under Mallikarjun Kharge’s leadership, we wrote to Amit Shah requesting that they invite us all together,” she added.

NCP (SP) Supporting Delimitation Bill?

According to several reports, it was learnt that the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) was likely to extend its support to the Women’s Reservation Bill and the Delimitation Bill during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The Sharad Pawar-led camp’s decision to favour the two key legislations was seen as a strategic move. With this, speculations were rife that the party would tie up with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

NCP leader Praful Patel and state unit chief Sunil Tatkare, both from the Ajit Pawar-led faction, met Fadnavis at his official residence, Varsha, in Mumbai. Shortly afterwards, Jayant Patil from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction also arrived at the Chief Minister’s residence.

A few days back, Sharad Pawar met his party MLAs in Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s office at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai, sparking buzz over political realignment. However, the speculation was turned down by both the NCP-led by Pawar, and the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

source