State NCP chief to go on tour across Maha

MUMBAI: Two days after expressing his desire to become the chief minister and necessity to expand the party, Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Maharashtra chief and senior minister Jayant Patil is all set to carry out a statewide tour — ‘NCP Parivar Samwad Yatra’ from January 28. Patil would be travelling to every assembly constituency and all the districts in phases.

His objective is to strengthen the organisation by having a dialogue with party cadres, discuss what they are dealing with and resolve them. The tour will also help in creating an atmosphere for better coordination with Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners — Shiv Sena and Congress — at the local level, Patil said.

In the first phase, he will be covering 82 assembly constituencies situated in 14 districts covering Vidarbha region and parts of north Maharashtra and by travelling around 3,000-km in 17 days. During the tour, he would be attending 135 meetings and 10 public rallies.

“It is an attempt to understand issues being faced by the party cadres and resolve them. We have already received around 761,000 suggestions from the party workers through a statewide feedback digital initiative called ‘Abhipray Abhiyan’. The tour will allow us to discuss the suggestions with them in person for implementation. The exercise will help in strengthening and expansion of the party in the coming future,” he told reporters at NCP headquarters at Ballard Pier on Saturday.

“As head of the party, I must meet and connect with cadres, review the local situation, encourage them and also revive the organisation where it is not strong,” he added.

A few days ago, the state NCP president expressed his aspiration to become the chief minister (CM) of Maharashtra. He said anyone who has been in politics for a long period would desire to become the CM but his party does not have numbers. He also said that party supremo Sharad Pawar’s word would be the final one on the issue.

“It is obvious. Everyone in politics would like to become the CM one day, but the decision of Pawar saheb is final for us. We have only 54 MLAs and going by the situation, I don’t believe it is possible to get the CM’s position. We need to improve the number of MLAs, and expand the party,” Patil has said in response to a question in an interview at Sangli. Patil is considered as one of the most trusted aides of the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. In the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, he was appointed as head of the state NCP unit in April 2018.

Jayant Patil.