Ncp may get BJp ‘BackiNg’ iN guJarat

Leaders said the NCP would not to gain anything from the Congress-led UPA.

The National Democ r at i c A l l i a n c e ( NDA) will get a covert new partner in the NCP, which is likely to contest the Gujarat Assembly elections with the BJP’s tacit support, political sources in Gujarat have said. The NCP had earlier tied up with the Janata Dal United in Gujarat and was working out modalities to contest at least 50 seats in the state. The NCP is now likely to follow in the footsteps of the JDU, which has joined the NDA.

Gujarat-based NCP leaders said that it was very clear that the NCP was not going to gain anything by staying in the Congress led UPA. “Our workers are demotivated and are asking us what is the point of staying in the UPA? We hope to do well in Gujarat by being a part of the larger NDA coalition, which is expected to win the state again,” a party official said. In the 2012 Assembly elections, the NCP had contested 12 of the state’s 182 seats and won two, bagging a vote share of 0.95%. The JDU contested 65 seats and won one, with a 0.67% vote percentage.

NCP sources said that with the exit of Shankar Sinh Vaghela from the Congress, the Congress was in MUMBAI: Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao abruptly sacked the Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, R.G. Dani, after it was found he is not an Indian citizen. He was appointed to the coveted post on August 14, a dire straits and the results of the Gujarat elections were a foregone conclusion.

“We are still waiting for Vaghela to announce his next step. In all probability, he is likely to float his own outfit, which will support the NDA.

The Congress has treated us as an ‘inferior brother’ in Gujarat and we have had a very strained relationship with them,” the source said. In the recently held presidential polls, political observers believe that at least seven NCP MLAs voted for the NDA nominee, Ram Nath Kovind rather than Meira Kumar, the UPA candidate. 2012. A Raj Bhavan official said the decision to remove Dani was taken after seeking the opinion of the state Law and Judiciary Department, Advocate-General and the Ministry of External Affairs. Eyebrows were raised as K. Jana Reddy, Leader of Opposition and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Telangana Assembly turned at a felicitation meeting of BJP’s Vice-Presidential candidate M. Venkaiah Naidu in Hyderabad on Friday evening. The meeting was arranged by the BJP and was attended by leaders of all political parties supporting Venkaiah as the VP. Jana Reddy praised Venkaiah as a capable leader. Though Venkaiah has decided not to canvass for the elections, the The top leadership of the separatist group All Party Hurriyat Conference ( APHC), which includes Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is likely to be arrested for their alleged role in facilitating terror funding in Kashmir.

Sources told this reporter that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which