Sena MP skips meet, Cong says 2 in touch

Two of the Shiv Sena’s 12 MPs have become the latest to join the list of those whose loyalties have come under a cloud ahead...

Two of the Shiv Sena’s 12 MPs have become the latest to join the list of those whose loyalties have come under a cloud ahead of the crucial vote of confidence on Tuesday even as Bal Thackeray’s party on Saturday said it remained with the NDA and a whip would be issued on Sunday to vote against the UPA.

Sources in the Shiv Sena told The Sunday Express that Tukaram Renge-Patil from Parbhani and Kalpana Narhire from Osmanabad were under suspicion with Renge-Patil failing to turn up for the parliamentary party meeting on Saturday at Matoshri, the residence of Thackeray.

They said Renge-Patil was insecure about being renominated for the party ticket as he does not get along with local Sena leaders.

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Narhire’s constituency was reserved for Scheduled Castes but after the delimitation exercise it has become an open constituency and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is said to be the likely Congress candidate in the ensuing polls. As a result, Narhire finds herself without a constituency.

Congress sources said that former Sena leader and now Revenue Minister in the Congress-NCP alliance Government, Narayan Rane, and Congress leader Digvijay Singh were in touch with both the Sena MPs. Singh, who visited Pandharpur for the annual “Ashadi Ekadashi” rituals, had contacted them, they added.

Nevertheless, Sena leaders tried to put up a brave face after the late evening meeting. Anant Geete, the party’s parliamentary party leader, said the Sena was with the NDA. “It is not the nuclear deal but the Government’s failure on all fronts over the past four years that has prompted us to decide to vote against it,” he told reporters. Asked about the possibility of Sena MPs being “bought”, he replied: “No one can buy Shiv Sena MPs.”

While Geete claimed that all 12 party MPs were present at the meeting, former Lok Sabha Speaker and party leader Manohar Joshi admitted that Renge-Patil was absent and attempts to reach him on his mobile phone also failed. “I hope he disappoints the media and votes according to the whip,” Joshi said.

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BJP General-Secretary Gopinath Munde attended the meeting which was addressed by Bal Thackeray and his son and party executive president Uddhav. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani spoke with Thackeary Sr. over phone after the meeting, Sena sources said.

Saturday’s meeting came on the back of claims by state Revenue Minister Narayan Rane — who defected from the Sena to the Congress in 2005 — that he would try and woo some of his former colleagues to back the nuclear deal as the Sena has been indicating that the deal is good for the country and attacked the Left parties for opposing it.

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