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INDIA bloc is only for national elections, said Sharad Pawar today amid reports that everything is not alright between the constituents of the opposition alliance.
The statement holds significance as it echoed the statement of Sanjay Raut of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) who recently said that the INDIA bloc and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliances - comprising Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP) - were only meant for Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
Sharad Pawar said, "There has never been any talk regarding state and local elections in the INDIA alliance," adding in the same breath, "Everyone will meet and decide on this (local body elections) in the next 10 days".
Earlier today, Mr Raut, while saying that it was difficult to form an an alliance in the local body elections, expressed confidence in the survival of the INDIA bloc and called on Congress as the "larger partner" in the alliance, to take responsibility for maintaining unity among the opposition parties.
"In Delhi, the Congress and AAP think that they are big powers... In Maharashtra also we have said that the local body elections are of the workers. It is difficult to form an alliance there, but our alliance will be intact in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (Maharashtra). Being the bigger party in the alliance, it is the responsibility of Congress to keep us together," Mr Raut added.
He also said that there was nothing wrong in contesting elections against allies and cited the example of the Delhi assembly elections where the AAP and Congress are competing against each other.
When Sharad Pawar was asked about the AAP vs Congress contest in Delhi, he said that the "INDIA bloc was meant only for national elections". "Delhi is (Arvind) Kejriwal's base. The people of Delhi have given the majority to his party twice in the elections and that is why it would have been good if we could have done something by taking them into confidence," he added..
The AAP and Congress' Delhi election decision came months after they fought the Lok Sabha elections together. Their Lok Sabha poll effort ended in a debacle as the BJP won all seven seats.
Earlier, NCP (SP) working president and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule said the parties always contested local bodies solo.
"Local bodies' elections are of the party workers. If we contest these polls as per our convenience what should the cadre do; only lift mattresses of leaders?" she asked.
The Congress, meanwhile, has said the party's central leadership will decide on whether it will contest solo or otherwise in the local body polls, the schedule of which is yet to be declared.
The remarks by the senior leaders come amid buzz that the Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) have softened their stance towards the BJP in recent days.
Mr Pawar, however, dismissed the speculation and said, "Not even a single MP of my party wants to go with BJP." His statement came almost at the same time an editorial in Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana described Amit Shah's recent remarks on Mr Thackeray as "language of arrogance".
In a poll rally, Mr Shah had said that the people of Maharashtra taught a lesson to Uddhav Thackeray for his "betrayal politics".
In the recently held assembly polls, the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP won 230 of the state's 288 seats, shrinking MVA's tally to 46 seats, with Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP) each contributing 20, 16 and 10 seats, respectively.