With tension mounting between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress on Friday demanded an explanation from its coalition partner for its alliance with the BJP in northeastern states. “It is for them to introspect, to explain to the people, as to which compulsions, what pressures, what reasons led them to tie-up with non-secular formations such as the BJP in Meghalaya,” AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference on Friday.It was a departure from the Congress’ stated stance on the NCP-BJP collaboration in some states. Earlier, the Congress used to downplay the NCP’s decision to go with the BJP and other anti-Congress parties during Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly elections, saying that the NCP-Congress arrangement was at the Centre.The Congress’ counter-attack came a day after the NCP launched a salvo at it saying that coalition dharma was lacking within the UPA. “The Congress party has shown neither generosity nor magnanimity towards its allies,” said NCP spokesperson D P Tripathi.The NCP had, at the same time, sought to differentiate between the UPA Government and the Congress-led UPA coalition. It paid compliments to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by praising the Government leadership, which, it said, functioned according to coalition dharma that was “lacking in the UPA”.Reacting to this, Singhvi said on Friday, “They ought to be reminded that the PM is an inseparable and inextricable part of the same UPA of which the NCP is a part of.”In an apparent attack on former Lok Sabha Speaker and NCP leader P A Sangma, Singhvi said, “Let the NCP not be held hostage to the subjective predilections of any individual in state politics.” He charged the NCP with falling victim to the “personal whims” of an individual with his own agenda in state politics while tying-up with the BJP. Noting that the UPA has scrupulously followed coalition dharma in every respect, Singhvi said, “It is for them to introspect whether this outburst weakens the strength and cohesiveness of the most successful coalition.”While there has been no love lost between the NCP and the Congress with both harbouring suspicion about each other’s motive — be it the NCP’s decision to take Shiv Sena’s support in Pune Municipal Corporation last year or the presence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his party colleague Praful Patel at L K Advani’s book release function last month — it is the first time that the two partners are washing dirty linen in public.The Congress recently sought to blame Pawar for price rise. The NCP, on the other hand, has been accusing the Congress of dictatorial approach to coalition politics. Leaders from both the parties, however, maintain that differences between the two would not lead to any split.
