Sharad Pawar to stay in UPA, says need to build NCP

New Delhi: Putting an end to the speculations of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) quitting the UPA, party chief Sharad Pawar has now written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi saying he would continue of be in alliance.

Hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached out to the Union Agriculture Minister calling him a valuable ally, Pawar wrote the letter pointing that the NCP "has been a strong and progressive ally of the UPA".

"We have been a strong and progressive ally of the UPA and we shall continue to be in alliance," he said.

Pawar wrote to PM and Sonia pointing the NCP was a progressive constituent of the UPA and would continue to be in alliance.

Pawar further said in the letter, "We are a small party. It doesn't confer stature or respectability so we need to build for future.

"Therefore, we need to devote more time to build up our party for future," said the NCP chief.

Earlier, the Congress had said that all the issues would be resolved through discussions. Addressing mediapersons, Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi asserted that there was no problem between the Congress and the NCP.

"Sharad Pawar is a senior and respected leader," said Dwivedi, adding that the Congress would find solution to all the problems.

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