The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday welcomed the election of Sushilkumar Shinde as leader of the Congress legislature party in Maharashtra.

NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar said that it is a welcome step.

He told reporters that Shinde is good and an experienced leader who had worked with NCP president Sharad Pawar and it was Pawar who had introduced Shinde to politics.

When asked if Pawar is behind the change of Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh and the election of Shinde, he said that it was the internal matter of Congress.

He ruled out the possibility of change of NCP's deputy chief minister Chavan Bhujbal.

He announced that the NCP will launch a movement against communalism on January 30 from Bhitiherwa Ashram in Champaran in Bihar where Mahatma Gandhi started his movement against Britishers. The NCP's termed the two month long movement as "Mahatma Gandhi Ekta Sandesh Yatra".

HE said that Congress should learn from its defeat in Gujarat after it decided to contest alone. "Now it is high time [the ]Congress should take lead to unite all small and big secular partiers to fight BJP and its allies," he said.