While maintaining there were no misunderstandings within the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday slammed his allies, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan for their comments against his party.
The NCP president, who recently took back his decision to step down as party chief, said he did not set much store by Mr. Raut’s opinions about the NCP expressed in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana. “He [Raut] is not aware of what work we do within the party. We are all colleagues within the NCP. Even if have different opinions, we never publicise them outside. The questions that we discuss remain confined within the party. My colleagues are conscious about taking the party forward,” said Mr. Pawar, in a pointed rebuke to Mr. Raut.
On Monday, an edit in the Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece Saamana — whose executive editor is Mr. Raut — had said that Mr. Pawar had “failed to groom a political legatee” to take the party. The edit criticising’ Mr. Pawar is seen as a response to the NCP chief’s less than flattering remarks about Mr. Thackeray in the updated edition of his political memoir Lok Mazhe Sangati (people in my company), which was released on May 2.
Mr. Raut, who is otherwise known to be deferential to Mr. Pawar, has been accused by the Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction of destroying the Shiv Sena owing to his affinity with Mr. Pawar and the NCP.
No importance to Raut’s views
“We do not give any importance to what he [Mr. Raut] writes in the Saamana. It is his right to say what he wants. We are satisfied in what we do,” said the NCP chief, speaking in Satara.
Mr. Pawar further said that after the 1999 Maharashtra Assembly election, when the NCP had to form the cabinet with the Congress, many of his NCP colleagues including his nephew Ajit Pawar, the late R.R. Patil, present NCP state chief Jayant Patil, Anil Deshmukh and others shouldered Cabinet responsibility for the first time.
“For many of them, it was their first Cabinet position. The whole of Maharashtra has seen how they worked… So regardless whether someone writes that the NCP has prepared a leadership [after Mr. Pawar] or not, we are satisfied with our work,” Mr. Pawar said, in a stinging rebuke to Mr. Raut.
Commenting on the frequent barbs being traded between the leaders of the three MVA parties, Mr. Pawar said it was impossible that there could be complete unity of opinion on a particular issue and that misunderstandings were bound to occur.
At the same time, he stressed there were no serious misunderstandings or coordination problems between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT), the Congress and the NCP and that fractious remarks made occasionally by the leaders of the three parties would have “no impact” on the MVA’s functioning.
“We will speak with Uddhav Thackeray, [Congress State chief] Nana Patole and like-minded parties including the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) about seat-sharing for the upcoming polls,” he said.
On Congress leader’s comments
Mr. Pawar was scathing in his attack on former CM and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, who had recently said while campaigning for his party in neighbouring Karnataka that the “NCP was acting like the BJP’s b-team.” The NCP has fielded candidates against the Congress in some seats in Karnataka, where the two parties do not have an alliance.
“It is to make an entry that we have fielded candidates on nine places in Karnataka. We have taken care they are representatives of all communities – Dalit, Lingayats, Muslim and women. We have not spoken about an alliance with the Congress there because we [the NCP] wanted to start in Karnataka from the scratch. We are only fighting limited seats and have ensured it will not have a backlash on the Congress,” Mr. Pawar said.
Speaking on Mr. Chavan’s statement, the NCP chief quipped: “He [Mr. Chavan] ought to ask his party what is his position in within the Congress, whether it is ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’. And if you ask his colleagues privately about his category in the party, they will tell you the reality,” said the NCP chief, in a disparaging comment against Mr. Chavan.
The Congress leader had cast aspersions on the NCP staying within the MVA alliance amid the recent buzz of senior NCP leader joining the BJP.
Meanwhile, Congress chief Nana Patole came out strongly in support of Mr. Chavan, remarking that he was a major leader in the State Congress.
“He is a ‘number 1’ leader… We are proud of the manner in which Mr. Chavan has taken on the BJP’s dictatorship and his knowledge on economic matters,” Mr. Patole said.
