Supriya Sule saw her victory margin dwindle from nearly 3 lakhs in 2009 to only about 70,000 votes this time.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, re-elected as an MP from Baramati, has admitted that her party suffered major reverses in the Lok Sabha elections because of the "disconnect'' of its leaders with the masses.
"There has been a little bit of disconnect. We have been getting a lot of feedback from the people,'' Ms Sule, who saw her victory margin dwindle from nearly 3 lakhs in 2009 to only about 70,000 votes this time, told NDTV.
The 44-year-old NCP MP admitted that "all is not well. We must introspect We have not been able to reach out to people.''
The Congress-NCP alliance, which has been ruling Maharashtra since 1999, was routed in the state in the Lok Sabha polls. The NCP could only win 4 seats, while its alliance partner had to rest content with a mere 2. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance walked away with 42 of the 48 seats, and there are fears that the verdict may cast a shadow on the prospects of the Congress-NCP combine in the assembly elections that are likely to be held in the state by October.
Another important factor behind the drubbing received by the Congress-NCP alliance, Ms Sule said, was that "we were not on the same page on several issues. We have to align ourselves.''
The NCP leader, however, hoped that the alliance would regroup, and bounce back in time for the assembly polls. "We will definitely rectify our mistakes. We will not be overconfident and believe that everything is well,'' she said, adding, "The national issues and state issues are different.''
She wanted the NCP leadership to announce the list of candidates for assembly polls early to enable them to gain a headstart over their rivals. "It will be a mix bag of experienced and fresh faces,'' Ms Sule pointed out.