Hope NCP will not join hands with communal forces: Congress

Pune, Oct 12: Days ahead of the Assembly polls in Maharashtra, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Oct 11 said he hoped that estranged ally NCP would remain true to its stated position of not joining hands with "communal forces".

"We hope that NCP will remain true forever to its statement that it will not join communal forces," Sharma said when quizzed by reporters here over speculations of a possible post-poll understanding between BJP and NCP for government formation in Maharashtra. [Full coverage of Maharashtra assembly elections 2014]

Sharma charged that allegations of corruption against NCP, its alliance partner for 15 years, had also brought discredit to the Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government in the state despite the "clean image" of former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Citing constraints of coalition politics, the Congress leader described such negative perception among the people as "collateral damage" which was a cause of concern for the party.

In the city to campaign for the Oct 15 Assembly polls, the former Union minister mounted an attack on the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre and said that the Prime Minister was a "great event manager" who, however, lacked the "politeness and grace" needed for the top job in the country.

He alleged that along with the assurances on bringing back black money, Modi had failed to deliver on the promises of checking price rise and combating unemployment which he had made during the Lok Sabha polls.

Charging that Modi has the mindset of a "self-centred and individualistic" person, Sharma said that was a "cause of concern" for the country as it undermined the Cabinet system of parliamentary democracy.

PTI