Mah CM reiterates his stand on Cong-NCP merger

Mumbai, Mar 13 (UNI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today reiterated his stand on the issue of merger of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with the Congress on the eve of the month-long budget session of the state Legislature , getting underway here from tommorrow.

''Congress is the natural ally of the NCP at the Centre and the state. The issue (foreign origin) which kept the two parties apart is now over and if they wish, Congress is the only alternative for them to return,'' he told reporters here.

''The NCP says their leader (Sharad Pawar) was thrown out of Congress, while Congress maintains he left on his own'', he said.

Mr Deshmukh's comments came when Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who was present at the press conference after the customary tea-party, said despite contesting the Zilla Parishad elections separately, the process of unity of Congress and NCP has begun to get their candidates elected to the posts of ZP president and Panchayat samiti president in maximum number of districts.

When questioned by reporters about the unity of the two parties in terms of merger, Mr Patil said a merger was impossible.

Replying to a question on the issue, Mr Deshmukh maintained his earlier statement.

Last week, state Congress president Prabha Rau had said that the talks of merger of Congress and NCP had started only after Mr Sharad Pawar praised UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in an interview and also said Mrs Gandhi's foreign origin was no longer an issue.

UNI