Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin issue has sharply divided the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) into two camps, one led by Sharad Pawar and the other by P.A. Sangma. The rift came to light at the NCP’s two-day meet that began today in the Capital.
Observers say political motives, rather than personal opinions, are behind the two leaders’ differing views.
Pawar, giving a clean chit to the Congress president, said today the foreign origin issue is not relevant in the present context. And most NCP members agree with him because they feel it is not the right time to sever all ties with the Congress. Besides, the NCP chief is concerned about Maharashtra, which is ruled by the party in alliance with the Congress.
Sangma, on the other hand, has never run short of friends in the NDA, say observers. In fact, soon after the death of former Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi, he was approached by some key leaders in the BJP for the post.
Not surprising then that a major part of the paper Sangma presented at the camp today was devoted to Sonia and the foreign origin issue. In the paper, Sangma insisted on the enactment of a legislation ‘‘barring a person of foreign origin from holding the office of prime minister.’’ He also endorsed the stand taken by Jayalalithaa on the issue.
Pawar, saying that the Congress leader’s foreign origin would not be an issue in the forthcoming Gujarat elections, wondered why TN Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa picked it up in the first place. He added, perhaps as a reminder to the party, that ‘‘this is not the appropriate time to raise the foreign origin issue. We will take it up when the right time comes.’’ However, he rejected the idea of an electoral tie-up with the Congress in Gujarat.
