Patel, Walse-Patil ask NCP workers to be prepared to go solo in upcoming polls
| Date :13-Jun-2022 |
Staff Reporter
Praful Patel, newly elected Rajya Sabha Member, and Dilip Walse-Patil, Home Minister of Maharashtra and Contact Minister of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for Nagpur and Gadchiroli, asked party workers to have high level of preparedness for the upcoming polls. Against the backdrop of frequent visits by senior NCP leaders to Nagpur, this appeal of Patel and Walse-Patil assumes significance.
These two top NCP leaders also asked the party workers that they wanted victories for the party in upcoming polls. Walse-Patil aggressively gave a message to NCP city unit, “Party workers do not need to think about alliance. They should have high level of preparedness. If there is no alliance with other parties, we should contest all the seats on our own and win the maximum.” Walse-Patil was speaking as the chief guest at the function organised by NCP city and district units to felicitate Praful Patel on the latter’s victory in Rajya Sabha polls. The programme was held at Function Junction Hall, Katol Road, on Sunday.
The impact of Rajya Sabha poll results in Maharashtra has started getting reflected in the statements and plans of political parties, as is evident from the comments of Patel and Walse-Patil. Patel attributed his victory to Sharad Pawar and people’s love for him.
“In 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Congress-NCP had won all 11 seats in Vidarbha. In Maharashtra, NCP had more seats (71) than Congress (69). As per formula, NCP should have got the post of Chief Minister but Congress refused. Had NCP insisted then, the equations would have changed for NCP. Chief Minister’s post always bears a special importance. I appeal to our leaders to get maximum seats for NCP in Vidarbha as we can provide chances to our workers to contest polls,” said Patel.
Patel cautioned that if people just kept working without getting an opportunity to contest elections then the party would not grow. “This is high time for our party to understand the intricacies. From Gondia to Buldhana, we have a lot of potential which we should tap for our party’s growth,” Patel stressed.
Patel praised Walse-Patil whom he had seen getting groomed under NCP chief Sharad Pawar. He said, “When I was not on any post, Walse-Patil was a big politician. Now, Nagpur and Gadchiroli have got a Contact Minister like him and we should grab this opportunity to take NCP in Vidarbha to greater heights.”
Walse-Patil, too, asked NCP workers to take up the responsibility. He said, “The people sitting on this stage should take the responsibility of their own victory first. This will help us to get maximum seats in municipal polls. Those results will have impact in subsequent polls. We should contest all the polls under the leadership of Praful Patel.”
Duneshwar Pethe, City President of NCP; Baba Gujar, District President; Abha Pandey, State Vice-President and Member of State Women’s Commission; Shabbir Ahmed Vidrohi, President of All India Minority Cell of NCP; Subodh Mohite, former Union Minister; Dinanath Padole, former MLA; Prakash Gajbhiye, former MLC; Pravin Kunte, State Spokeperson; Sumedha Thakre, former President; Shekhar Sawarbandhe, State General Secretary, also spoke on the occasion.
Salil Deshmukh, Zilla Parishad member; Rajabhau Tanksale, Anil Ahirkar, Prashant Pawar, Raman Thawkar, Ramesh Phule, Shailendra Tiwari, Ashwin Jhaveri, Dilip Pankule, and others shared the dais on this occasion.