NCP factions hold 1st round of talks on Sule's suggestion

The two rival factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday held the first round of talks ahead of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections.

- Shrinivas Deshpande

According to people privy to the details, the development came after a phone call by NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) executive president and MP Supriya Sule, who advised against a split in the party's traditional vote base.

The two NCP camps met in Pimpri Chinchwad, a day after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would contest the civic polls independently, without its Mahayuti allies, in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.

After the meeting, leaders from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) signalled early efforts to explore local-level coordination to prevent the BJP from gaining an advantage due to a divided opposition.