Pawar kickstarts campaign by promising to make Pune global city

Pune, Jan 6 (UNI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar today kickstarted his party's election campaign for the forthcoming civic polls scheduled to be held here on February 1.

The NCP will have no alliance with the Congress in six municipal corporations in the state which includes Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Amravati, Ullhasnagar, Solhapur and Nagpur, while negotiations are in progress for having a pact in the four municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane, Nasik and Akola.

The Congress campaign was kickstarted yesterday by city MP Suresh Kalmadi and Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane.

Meanwhile, the Sena and BJP are going ahead with their alliance for these polls.

''Many auto industries are shifting several operations from Detroit in the US to Pune, as it is economically viable and this will create vast employment opportunities here with sizeable salary structures. However the state has to prepare itself by providing suitable amenities and emerge as the most favoured destination for foreign investments in the country,'' Mr Pawar observed while addressing a rally here.

He underlined the paramount importance of world-class infrastucture for attracting investments and took a dig at the pathetic conditions of roads in Pune.

''If Pune has to be a global city the roads have to improve. Even the visiting Governor of Nebraska, US, Mr Bob Kerry remarked that Pune will have to improve it's roads if it has to be considered as a world class city,'' Pawar pointed out.

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