India
NCP chief also expressed frustration over lack of movement to establish opposition unity.
Updated : Aug 20, 2017, 06:48 PM IST
Finally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar broke his silence on Sunday claiming that the vote cast by his party’s legislator helped Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel to win one of the most talked about and bitterly fought election to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. He said of the two party legislators in Gujarat state assembly, one voted for BJP and another for Congress which proved to be the deciding factor in Patel’s victory. Pawar made this statement during a visit to Kolhapur.
Pawar took swipe against Congress for allegedly spreading stories about NCP supporting BJP. NCP supremo without taking name snubbed Ahmed Patel who after his election had said whether NCP voted for him was a million dollar question.
On the move to establish opposition unity to take on mighty BJP, Pawar downplayed developments saying talks in this regard have been going on for last three years but nothing substantial has happened so far. He blamed the Congress party for its blow hot blow cold policy.
His statement is important as NCP had skipped meeting of opposition parties called by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on August 11 to discuss unity and chalk out a strategy against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. NCP’s absence resulted in talk about cracks in the joint opposition.
Senior NCP leader Praful Patel had strongly justified NCP’s decision to boycott the meeting saying that it was to protest against the “lies” spread by the Congress that its legislators had voted against Ahmed Patel in Gujarat. Subsequently, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Gulam Nabi Azad clarified that NCP continues to be part of joint opposition and said Pawar had communicated his inability to attend due to ill health.
sanjay.jog@dnaindia.net