Pawar rules out electoral truck with Shiv Sena-BJP

Mumbai, Aug 5 (UNI) Rejecting any possibility of electoral truck with Shiv Sena-BJP, Union Agriculture Minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar today said his party was keen to ensure that secular votes were not divided.

Addressing a press conference after chairing a two day meeting of his party's state unit, Mr Pawar said the issue of ensuing local bodies elections to 27 Zilla Parishads, 308 gram panchayats, 14 Municipal corporations and about 160 Municipal councils as well as the party's preparedness and strategy for the same was discussed threadbare at the meeting.

The general mood was that there should be no division of secular votes and the district units of the party be authorised to take a final decision on alliances. The district unit chiefs and office bearers were of the view that they should have a say in the decision making process in this context, he added.

He said in the last local bodies election, Congress and NCP fought seperately. ''If there is a distance in the secular forces at the grassroot level, co-ordination between the parties while contesting the assembly or Lok Sabha elections together is not smooth'', he added.

Mr Pawar said the speculation that -his party may go with Shiv Sena-BJP- was doing rounds ever since NCP was born. ''This time, the district units will have a say in finalising the alliances, if there are problems in few areas, a different decision may be taken at their end. We will not tie up with Shiv Sena-BJP and prefer to go alone. Our desire and anxiety is to see united secular front and we are ready to compromise to ensure this'', he added.

To a question that he was being targetted by the Congress in recent days, he said he was not worried that he or his party were targetted by allies. ''It only shows that we have become important'', he added.

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