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No split in NCP, says Dwivedi

Nationalist Congress Party General Secretary Devendra Dwivedi today ruled out any split in the party and said that the decision to ally with the Congress in Maharashtra was taken after considering the prevailing political situation.

Dwivedi said that the matter will be discussed in the party's Central Working Committee as to why the NCP state unit allied with the Congress. He said that the committee had fully authorised party president Sharad Pawar to take a final decision. ''The aim was to provide a stable government in the state and prevent the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance from coming to power in the state,'' he said.

''We follow the principle of inner democracy,'' he said. When asked why senior party colleague and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma has resented the decision of Maharashtra state unit, Dwivedi replied that though he has raised the issue Sangma has also confirmed that he would abide by the decision of the party.

Dwivedi said the decision to form an alliance in Meghalaya, the home state of Sangma, was also a political necessity. The state unit of the NCP has allied with other parties as well as the BJP to form a government. ''We want the state units to have more powers; this is actually de-centralisation,'' the senior leader said justifying the decision of the party to ally with two different parties.

UNI

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