NCP wants to play elder brother's role in Thane during civic polls

Thane, Dec 22 (UNI) Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik today said the Nationalist Congress Party would not be averse to contesting the forthcoming civic and zilla parishad elections in Thane district on its own if the party was denied a major share of seats.

Mr Naik, while addressing a press conference here today, justified the demand saying the NCP has as many as five MLAs in the district while the Congress has none.

Replying to questions, he said views of the ward presidents of the party would be communicated to the higherups after which the seat-sharing formula between the NCP and the Congress would be finalised.

A committee would be constituted by the party to screen and select the candidates which would be submitted to the NCP Parliamentary Board for approval, he said.

He, however, said he did not forsee any problems with the Congress over the seat-sharing. But, the NCP should be granted those seats which it had won in the last election and also those seats where the party had emerged as the runner-up, he said. ''We will play a role of an elder brother in the politics of the district,'' he declared.

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