Not right to ignore Congress while bringing together non-BJP parties: Pawar

It will not be right to ignore Congress, Pawar told reporters here.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on March 27 written to her non-BJP counterparts and other opposition leaders, urging them to come together and unitedly fight the saffron party.When asked about it, Pawar said the Trinamool Congress TMC chief had spoken to him on the issue.

Ignoring the Congress will not be right when it comes to initiating the process of bringing together non-BJP parties, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said here on Wednesday.

''The process which we want to initiate to bring non-BJP parties together, we want to take the process forward along with the Congress. It will not be right to ignore Congress,'' Pawar told reporters here.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on March 27 written to her non-BJP counterparts and other opposition leaders, urging them to come together and unitedly fight the saffron party.

When asked about it, Pawar said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief had spoken to him on the issue. ''We have not spoken to other people. We will have to ask the chief ministers of 9-10 states. We will have to ask them (for a convenient) date and discuss the venue (for the meeting),'' Pawar said.

Banerjee, who had written the letter as the TMC chairperson, called for a meeting to discuss strategies to take on the BJP and commit to the cause of a unified and principled opposition that will make way for the ''government that the country deserves''.