The Rajya Sabha elections, one of the NCP MLAs did not vote for Congress president Sonia Gandhi's political advisor Ahmad Patel
It was the trust deficit that led to the Congress cold-shouldering NCP demands during the seat-sharing talks for the Gujarat assembly elections.
According to a senior Congress leader, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party cannot be treated as trustworthy and committed to the alliance. "During the Rajya Sabha elections, one of the NCP MLAs did not vote for Congress president Sonia Gandhi's political advisor Ahmad Patel," he pointed out.
"The BJP had shored up all its might to defeat Patel because they thought defeat of Patel can be dubbed as the defeat of Sonia Gandhi. We were having a very hard time. We expected NCP to behave like our natural ally, but they ditched us," said the senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.
He said Rajya Sabha elections' fallout is the main reason behind not going with the NCP. "The Gujarat Congress leaders are also not interested to go with NCP. Besides, NCP has no significant presence in Gujarat. The two MLAs they have were elected on the individual clout they enjoyed. Also, NCP was demanding 10 seats against our offer of four seats," he said.
Another Congress leader in the know-how of things was more critical of NCP, and said: "They are more interested in eating into Congress votes and helping the BJP."
"The NCP is not keen on winning the elections ...they just want to spoil Congress' chances. Moreover, even if we leave them more seats, there is no guarantee that they will back us once elected. Like Maharashtra, NCP leadership may take a different stand by offering conditional or unconditional support to the BJP. Therefore, we do not wanted to take any risk," he added.
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