NCP to stay with UPA, but skip functions: Praful Patel

New Delhi  :  The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Monday said it continues to be an integral part of the Congress-led UPA but will not participate in any government function till it takes a final decision on future of their alliance.

The NCP ministers are unlikely to attend the prime minister’s farewell dinner for outgoing President Pratibha Patil, though party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was present at a send-off for her earlier in parliament.

An NCP source said party “ministers would not be attending the dinner” at Hyderabad House, but would not like to go to the extreme of missing the farewell event organised for the outgoing president in parliament before the dinner.

Earlier, NCP leader and Heavy Industries minister Praful Patel told reporters that they would “not attend any government function till the UPA issues are resolved”.

He, however, reiterated that the NCP was an integral part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

“We continue to be an integral part of UPA and our relationship with UPA will continue till 2014. We are supporting UPA as a core ally and will continue to support this government till the very end,” said Patel.

He said the party would finalise its stand on the UPA coordination issues by Wednesday.

“We feel that before we take a final decision, they (NCP legislators from Maharashtra) must be taken on board and most likely tomorrow (Tuesday) and no later than day after (Wednesday), this matter will be put to rest,” he said.

Last weekend, the NCP made it quite plain that it was “unhappy” with the Congress at the national as well as the state level.

The NCP’s grouse is that it was “not consulted” on important decisions at the central and state level and there was lack of coordination between the party and the Congress.