The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is an Indian political party.
It was formed on May 25, 1999, by Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar after they were thrown out of the Congress Party due to their stating their belief that a person of foreign origin should not become the Prime Minister of India.
In January 2004, Sangma quit the NCP because he felt Sharad Pawar was getting closer to the Congress Party inspite of no change of leadership in the Congress. For a brief period Sangma's fraction tried to claim the right to the name and symbol of NCP. The Election Commission acknowledged Pawar's group as the genuine NCP. Following the decision of the Election Commission, Sangma's group merged with AITC to form the Nationalist Trinamool Congress.
The NCP advertises itself a progressive, secular party that stands for "democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity, social justice, and federalism." It positions itself as a moderate, left-leaning alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The party's election symbol is an analog clock that reads 10:00. The party is in power in state of Maharashtra with Congress(I) support and some of its members are in Manmohan Singh's cabinet at center, after victory of Congress(I) in 2004.
NCP Policies
- Establishment of a national agricultural policy
- Establishment of a national policy to empower women
- Review and revision to the national health policy to add a separate sub-component on women's health
- Integrated implementation of a national nutrition policy to merge and coordinate various services provided by different government departments and agencies
- Citizenship law reform to stipulate that high offices in government be confined to natural-born Indian citizens (see Sonia Gandhi)
- Reserving for women one-third of the seats in parliament and in state legislatures
- Enactment of a competition law to protect against corrupt practices
- Enactment of a bio-diversity law to protect bio-diversity and intellectual property
- Enactment of a law establishing an independent telecasting authority
Proposed Governmental Commissions
- An Exclusive Scheduled Tribes Commission with constitutional status
- An Exclusive Minorities Commission with constitutional status
- A Commission on Corporate Governance to establish self-regulating Fair Practices Code
- Railways Safety Commission
See also
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