NCP must merge with Congress: Sushil Kumar Shinde

MUMBAI: Senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday said the NCP should merge with the Congress.

“The Congress and NCP will come together and be one party. It (NCP) is tired and so are we,” said the former Union home minister. Shinde’s comments are significant for two reasons: One, he made the statement not in a Congress function but at an NCP programme while campaigning in Solapur. Two, Shinde’s talk on both the Congress and NCP being ‘tired’ is an admission that the two cannot take on BJP without joining forces.

Shinde went on to say: “We (Congress and NCP leadership) grew up in one mother’s lap, we regret (for parting ways with Pawar) and they too would be regretting the move. We are talking about this (regret) openly but they are not. However, a start has been made from Solapur today.


Congress leaders said that while they are keen on the NCP merging with it, the NCP has to take a call on it. The NCP, however, is not thinking of a merger yet, as it would first like to see the results of the assembly polls.