Mumbai: After the first-phase of Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed displeasure over low voter turn out. According to political analysts, this could mean a major decline in the votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The question doing the round is whether the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will continue its support to the Devendra Fadnavis government in the state or BJP-led NDA government at the centre after the LS polls.
Leaders from both the BJP and the NCP revealed that the NCP has not yet withdrawn its unconditional support given to the BJP-led Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra.
After 2014 state Assembly election, BJP had fallen short of an absolute majority and the Shiv Sena had denied support to the Fadnavis government. At that time, the NCP had announced unconditional support to the Fadnavis government. The party claimed its decision was taken to give the state a stable government.
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The BJP and the Sena had broken their 25-year-old alliance before the 2014 Aassembly polls and had contested the election separately. The tension between them was so intense that the Sena had chosen to sit in the opposition and Eknath Shinde was elected as the leader of opposition.
Both NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik and BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye have confirmed that the NCP has not yet withdrawn its support given to the BJP government in the state. “There was no need to announce the withdrawal of support to the BJP government as the Sena had joined the Fadnavis government and accepted key posts in the state cabinet later on,” said Malik.
He added that the support given to the BJP government was not in writing, hence, there was no need to publish the withdrawal of the support. Malik added that the party chief has already cleared the issue. Upadhye said that the BJP had not asked for the support from the NCP. “It was their decision and I did not hear during last four-and-a-half years that the NCP has officially withdrawn its support,” said Upadhye and added,
“The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will come to power with a majority and the BJP will not need the support of the NCP.” ,Meanwhile, Supriya Sule, while speaking with media persons at Baramati on Thursday, said that there was no question of offering support to BJP in the event of fractured verdict in the LS polls.