Pawar rebukes Shinde over Congress-NCP ‘merger’ remark

‘Congress –NCP in defeatist mode before poll battle,’ says Fadnavis

Pune: Reprimanding senior and implicitly rebuking Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde for his remarks on the possible merger of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the near future, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday retorted back saying that he was well aware of the situation of his own party.

The war of words between the two principle opposition parties with just 12 days to go before the state goes to polls, Shinde’s remarks are like gift of manna from the heavens for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which immediately latched on it to underscore the defeatist mentality prevailing in the Congress-NCP alliance before the electoral contest.

Speaking at election rallies in Dhule district, Chief Devendra Fadnavis that Shinde’s remarks only proved that the Congress and the NCP had slipped into “a defeatist mode” before the fight had even begun. In a tongue-in-cheek remark “We read it in the newpapers of the Congress leader (Rahul Gandhi) roaming in Bangkok even as his party hopelessly flounders. Sharad Pawar’s party is half empty while the other half will join us after the elections. So I suppose Shinde’s remarks about a merger makes sense as that way, we will at least have some opposition left,” quipped the Chief Minister.

Rubbing it in further former Congress leader and Minister for Housing Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil remarked that Shinde’s statements illustrated the truth about the Congress. Vikhe is a bitter rival of the Pawar’s and is weary of Pawar scion Rohit Pawar contesting from Jalgaon-Jamod constituency closer to his North Maharashtra bastion of Ahmednagar. Reacting to the war of words between Pawar and Shinde, he said that the Congress in Maharashtra had no identity left of its own. “The Congress has hitched its wagon to the NCP’s fortunes and is dictated by them”.

State BJP president Chandrakant Patil added more salt to injury and remarked that regardless of whether or not the Congress and the NCP had become tired, the scions of the top leadership of both these parties were no longer interested in remaining with them. He added that it would not be surprising if the younger generation of the Pawar family joined the BJP in the future.

Meanwhile, senior Congress and NCP leaders issued rebuttals over Shinde’s statements of a possible merger between the two parties. Arguing that both the Congress and the NCP were contesting the October 21 assembly elections in a show of unity, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Chief (MPCC) Balasaheb Thorat said that there was no talk of any merger between the two. In a bid to put a dampener on the controversy, Thorat remarked that both the parties are in a coalition and are fighting as separate political entities. However, both are working together with a common aim to win more than 175 seats in the forthcoming polls, he added further.

Hitting out at Chandrakant Patil, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar accused the state BJP chief of deliberately trying to drive a wedge between the Congress and the NCP.

The senior NCP leader termed the remarks of Shinde about a merger as his (Shinde’s) personal opinion and as a senior leader of the Congress he is entitled to it. However, as of now both the parties are contesting as two different political parties with the sole aim of overthrowing the BJP-Sena government. He however, refrained from making any further comments arguing that it would only add to the confusion amongst the cadres of both the parties.

The NCP chiefs remarks at a rally in Jalgaon come day after Shinde who while addressing a campaign rally in Solapur on October 8, had remarked that both the Congress and the NCP had the same ideological roots and that both the parties were “tired” while expressing hope that the two Congresses would come together in the future. Shinde had argued that since the NCP was “just as tired” as the Congress it would be better if the NCP merged with the Congress.