The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka to bring 'secular forces' together, its chief Sharad Pawar said Monday.
Pawar was in Bengaluru to inaugurate the party's office in Banaswadi.
"Until now, we did not have an office here. The party has taken a decision to work in Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, to expand its presence," Pawar told reporters.
Recently, Chief Minister of West Bengal and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee reached out to him with a suggestion that all secular parties should join hands to fight communal forces, he said. "In that direction we have started working in other states. We will see if we can work together with other secular parties," he said.
The party will organise a padayatra soon after which it will decide how many seats to contest in Karnataka. The immediate focus will be on North Karnataka, Pawar said, adding that the party will ensure that it would contest limited seats to make sure that it does not step on other secular parties.
While he met Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar earlier in the day, Pawar said there was no talk of a pre-poll alliance with Congress as of now. The party will also reach out to JD(S) in its bid to bring secular forces together. "JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda and I share a good relationship," he said.
The 511-km padayatra will focus on farmers' issues, unemployment and inflation, Pawar said.
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(Published 18 April 2022, 16:51 IST)
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