The Hindu : NCP working committee meeting advanced

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 08, 2004

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National

NCP working committee meeting advanced

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JAN. 7. The all-important meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party Working Committee, will now be held on January 14 in the capital. It had earlier been scheduled for January 25.

The decision comes amid rising speculation over the NCP's choice of allies for the Lok Sabha elections. Last week, the NCP president, Sharad Pawar, had said that his party was keeping all its options, including a possible tie-up with the National Democratic Alliance, open.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership had made no secret of its desire to draw the NCP into the NDA camp and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had even sounded out the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray.

The move, according to the BJP general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, ran aground following differences on the question of sharing seats. Mr. Pawar, however, denied the BJP's claims that the parties had discussed the question of sharing seats.

Meanwhile, the Congress as well as the Left parties have been in touch with Mr. Pawar with a view to wrapping an alliance with the party. The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, has held several meetings with the NCP president on the issue.

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