NCP should clear stand, say who their rival is: Congress

He said if the Congress had an alliance with the NCP, they would have come to power in Maharashtra.

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The remark evoked sharp reaction from the Congress across Maharashtra, including former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and MPCC president Ashok Chavan, who denied the charge as baseless.

Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said, “It was the NCP which was keen on going alone in the assembly polls. Whereas the Congress always wanted to have an alliance.”

Upset with NCP’s positioning, the state leaders conveyed the developments to the AICC. The Congress leaders also wondered “if Pawar was scaling an attack against Congress and Sena to keep the options of an alliance open with BJP ahead.”

A senior Congress leader said, “By now we are used to double roles played by NCP. It is not a new phenomenon. But
the larger question that arises is NCP needs to explain to people who their real rivals are.”

He added, “Is it not their wishful thinking that they want Sena to quit from Maharashtra government? After all NCP had once given outside support to BJP even without being asked. And till date, they have not said they have withdrawn their unsought support.”

A section within the Congress believes, “There are two aspects. The NCP wants to keep its cadre confused by
targeting anybody and everybody. Or by attacking Congress, it wants to keep its options with BJP open ended.”

What has also amused Congress leaders is Pawar’s statement that “why is Sena not walking out if they considered BJP good for nothing?” This statement is perceived in the Congress quarters as a window which NCP wants to keep open for a future alliance with BJP.

Prithviraj Chavan, who was leading the Congress to elections in 2014 said, “The minute Shiv Sena and BJP broke
their alliance, NCP signalled end of the alliance with Congress, ahead of polls.”

The NCP’s attack on the Congress has fuelled anger against Pawar’s party, as it feels betrayed again. As a senior leader said, “In the state legislative council elections, we gave them two seats and settled for one. We surrendered our one seat to NCP. But look at their response. They have started undermining the Congress.”

However, political managers in the NCP said, “Pawarsaheb’s remark was made in passing stating what had happened
during the 2014 assembly elections. It is a fact that Congress did not make great attempts to keep the alliance with NCP intact. They were also driving a hard bargain for seat sharing making it difficult for us to accept their terms and conditions.”