Karnataka Polls — NCP To Fight In At Least 40 Seats, Ex-B'luru Mayor May Join Party: State Party President

Karnataka NCP President Hari R said that a former Bengaluru mayor may join the Sharad Pawar-led party in the coming days while four-five BJP MLAs are also in touch with them.

The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is planning to contest at least 40 seats in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections where the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, and the JD(S) are locked in a triangular contest. Karnataka NCP President Hari R on Saturday said that a former Bengaluru mayor may join their party in the coming days while four-five BJP MLAs are also in touch with them. The statement came as NCP chief Pawar summoned a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise its plans for the assembly elections in Karnataka.

"We will fight in at least 40 seats in the upcoming elections. Four-five sitting MLAs of the BJP are in touch with us to join the party. A (former) mayor of Bengaluru may also join our party soon," Hari R told news agency ANI.

The Karnataka NCP President claimed that the BJP was losing members as they were looking to jump ship. "No one from the Congress contacted us," he added.

Karnataka Election 2023: NCP To Support Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti

The NCP's decision to contest the May 10 election is also seen as a move to regain the national party status it had to forego due to its depleted political fortunes in states such as Goa, Meghalaya, and Manipur.

The NCP had written to the Election Commission for allocation of the ‘alarm clock’ symbol for the Karnataka Assembly elections, a request that was acceded to by the poll authority.

According to news agency PTI, NCP leaders say the party will extend support to the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti in the Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary region which is home to a sizeable Marathi-speaking population.

Pawar's announcement of plans for Karnataka came a day after his meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on the need to forge opposition unity to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

The Congress has pinned its hopes on a big victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls as it yearns for a reversal of its sliding electoral performance since the loss in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Voting in the state will take place on May 10 and counting is scheduled for May 13.