Sharad Pawar who stabbed Congress in the back can never be leader of Shiv Sainiks, says Sena’s ex-Union Minister Anant Geete

Geete’s remark ‘MVA just a political compromise’, triggers fresh controversy within coalition partners

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Pune: Former Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP, ex-Union Minister Anant Geete on Tuesday stirred the hornets’ nest for the ruling tripartite Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government by hurling political barbs at the NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the MVA itself.

The former Sena union minister termed the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray led MVA as an “unnatural coalition”. He further remarked that the MVA alliance government was just a political compromise, and the Sena could never toe the ideological line of the NCP or the Congress as ordinary Shiv Sainiks would never accept NCP chief Sharad Pawar as their leader.

“Sharad Pawar formed the NCP by stabbing the Congress in the back…so, when there is such an acrimonious rift between the two Congresses, how can one expect the NCP and the Sena to agree with each other and why should Shiv Sainiks accept Sharad Pawar as their leader…their (Shiv Sainiks) leader can and only be late Sena chief Bal Thackeray,” said Geete,

He was speaking in Shrivardhan taluka in Raigad district during a political gathering which saw some local NCP leaders enter the Sena fold. 

Despite the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress sharing power in the MVA, Geete, a close aide of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, was unsparing in his comments aimed at his coalition allies which were disparaging in nature and ideologically opposed to the MVA government. 

“What is the Shiv Sena and what is the responsibility of Shiv Sainiks today? While we have a Chief Minister (Sena), we (Sena activists) cannot regard the rest of the government in which the Congress and the NCP are part of as ours…other leaders may shower accolades on Pawar, but a Shiv Sainiks real guru can only be late Balasaheb Thackeray,” said Geete, a former MP from Raigad. 

He remarked that as long as the MVA government functioned, it would pull on, but there was no saying what could happen if the Sena broke off from its coalition partners. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Geete lost the Raigad seat to his rival in the region – senior NCP leader Sunil Tatkare in a close contest. The senior Sena leader has been a five-time MP and former Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises at the Center before the Sena broke all its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the 2019 Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, MVA leaders went into a damage control mode, with Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut distancing the party from Geete’s remarks. 

“Everyone has accepted Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership…both Thackeray and Pawar are tall leaders of the State. The MVA leadership has nothing to do with Geete’s remarks. The government will complete its five-year term without any hitch,” said Raut. 

NCP leader Shashikant Shinde urged restraint on part of MVA leaders while making public statements, remarking that Geete’s comments had created an unwarranted controversy.  

However, Geete’s statements, which resonate with similar provocative remarks made by other MVA leaders like Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole have proved to be cannon fodder for the opposition BJP, providing ‘proof’ of the fragility of the tripartite alliance. 

Commenting on Geete’s remarks, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar remarked “Geete has spoken the truth…the NCP is just a party of selfish leaders concerned with wealth and power. The Sena had made a historic mistake by forming an alliance with the Congress and Pawar’s party after the 2019 Assembly polls”.