<p class="title">Don't get disheartened by outcome of Lok Sabha elections, win and loss is part of politics, was NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's advice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sulking over the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul had shunned meetings with party leaders, but on Thursday evening reached out to Pawar and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In a nearly hour-long discussion, Pawar and Rahul analysed the Lok Sabha election results and the way forward, particularly the upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra where Congress is a coalition partner of the NCP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pawar told reporters that he also reminded Rahul of the landslide victory his father Rajiv Gandhi had won in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent loss in the 1989 general elections to drive home the point that victory and defeat were part of politics.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“We discussed matters pertaining to the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha Elections and the drought situation in Maharashtra,” Pawar said after the meeting. Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir are expected to be held this year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After his offer to resign as Congress President at the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday last, Rahul had refused to meet party leaders. At the CWC meeting, the Congress President had blamed senior leaders of haggling for party tickets for their kin at the cost of the party.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rahul's sudden meeting with Pawar triggered speculation about a possible merger of the NCP with the Congress. However, Pawar rejected such reports saying the topic did not even come up for discussion during his talks with the Congress President.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A merger of the Congress splinter groups has often been mooted by a section of the leadership as a formula to revive the fortunes of the grand old party after almost every electoral loss. Pawar and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee – two prominent splinter groups of the Congress have repeatedly dismissed such a possibility, particularly after making a mark for themselves after partying ways with the Congress.</p>.<p class="bodytext">YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Maanila Congress in Tamil Nadu are other splinter groups of the Congress.</p>
<p class="title">Don't get disheartened by outcome of Lok Sabha elections, win and loss is part of politics, was NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's advice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sulking over the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul had shunned meetings with party leaders, but on Thursday evening reached out to Pawar and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In a nearly hour-long discussion, Pawar and Rahul analysed the Lok Sabha election results and the way forward, particularly the upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra where Congress is a coalition partner of the NCP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pawar told reporters that he also reminded Rahul of the landslide victory his father Rajiv Gandhi had won in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent loss in the 1989 general elections to drive home the point that victory and defeat were part of politics.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“We discussed matters pertaining to the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha Elections and the drought situation in Maharashtra,” Pawar said after the meeting. Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir are expected to be held this year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After his offer to resign as Congress President at the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday last, Rahul had refused to meet party leaders. At the CWC meeting, the Congress President had blamed senior leaders of haggling for party tickets for their kin at the cost of the party.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rahul's sudden meeting with Pawar triggered speculation about a possible merger of the NCP with the Congress. However, Pawar rejected such reports saying the topic did not even come up for discussion during his talks with the Congress President.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A merger of the Congress splinter groups has often been mooted by a section of the leadership as a formula to revive the fortunes of the grand old party after almost every electoral loss. Pawar and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee – two prominent splinter groups of the Congress have repeatedly dismissed such a possibility, particularly after making a mark for themselves after partying ways with the Congress.</p>.<p class="bodytext">YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Maanila Congress in Tamil Nadu are other splinter groups of the Congress.</p>
