Senior NCP leader Praful Patel addresses the press meeting after the party met a while ago.

Patels says the NCP is the most important and responsible ally of the UPA and the strength of the party.

He said that NCP chief Sharad Pawar had raised a communication to the Prime Minister yesterday. Patel said Pawar had raised about the problems with the Congress and that the Congress and NCP must gear up for the 2014 polls. There are some sections of people in the Congress party which have been fueling unnecessary speculation.

Patel said, "The issue of #2 has been thrown out of proportion. Mr Pawar in Parliament sits right next to Sonia Gandhi or Pranab Mukherjee. The issue is absurd. His stature is far more and the Congress realises that Mr Pawar brings far more to the table and he is not such a petty leader to raise such an issue."