Senior leader P C Chacko, who quit Congress last week, joined the NCP in the presence of party supremo Sharad Pawar, describing the transition as a “homecoming”.
Chacko said the country needed a strong opposition and he did not see much of an effort to that point in the Congress.
Before joining the NCP, Chacko met CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and announced that he would campaign for the Left Democratic Front in the Kerala assembly elections. NCP is part of the LDF in Kerala.
Addressing the media, Pawar said there was a need for a third front in the country that has not been shaped yet. “We have been talking to different parties. Sitaram Yechury has also stated the need for it today,” Pawar said.
Pawar said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had called him and said that the CPI(M) was happy with Chacko joining the NCP.
“Today, the need is the unity of the opposition. A united opposition should emerge as an alternative to the BJP. I don't see that initiative in the party which I was a member of earlier,” Chacko said.