© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Stunned by the split in the NCP, the Opposition hit back at the BJP Sunday. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee dialled Sharad Pawar and offered support to him.
The splits in the Shiv Sena and the NCP are the biggest setback for the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the anti-BJP alliance in Maharashtra, before the Lok Sabha elections next year. Assembly elections in Maharashtra too are scheduled to take place in the second half of next year.
Opposition leaders admitted that the damage the NCP split has done to efforts to unify the Opposition in terms of optics and perception is significant.
Praful Patel, who joined Ajit Pawar in switching sides, was with Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule at the Patna gathering of Opposition leaders on June 23.
The electoral impact of the Sena and NCP splits is another huge worry. It was Sharad Pawar who announced last week that the next meeting of the Opposition parties would be held in Bengaluru on July 13-14.
On Sunday, Opposition leaders were fuming, many hoping Pawar senior was not two-timing the Opposition.
Congress general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal said, “The BJP’s dirty tricks department is working on overdrive in Maharashtra. This is not a legitimately elected government, but an ED-facilitated power grab. The Maharashtra government is a product of corruption and sin. The people have very well identified the traitors, corrupt and compromised leaders of Maharashtra and each of them will be taught the lessons of their lifetime in the next elections.”
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien too used the traitor word. “We will fight these traitors and the BJP in 2024. We will work stronger to defeat the BJP,” he told The Indian Express.
Venugopal and several other Opposition leaders spoke about the BJP’s “washing machine politics”.
Recalling that Prime Minister Modi had spoken about corruption on June 29, Venugopal said, “It appears he switched on the washing machine and these leaders are now squeaky clean after this oath-taking ceremony.”
Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh said. “Clearly the BJP’s Washing Machine has resumed its operations. A number of new entrants into the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra today had been facing serious corruption charges with ED, CBI and Income Tax authorities after them. Now they have all got a clean chit. The Congress will intensify its efforts to free Maharashtra from the clutches of the BJP.”
JD (U) leader K C Tyagi admitted the NCP split was a setback.
“It is a setback. But at the same time, what example of good governance is the ruling party trying to set by making Ajit Pawar the Deputy Chief Minister against whom it had instituted a probe. It had also called the NCP ‘Naturally Corrupt Party’ throughout the elections. So conduct raids first, send Income Tax, ED, CBI later and then induct them into your alliance. So instead of elections, you want to attain a majority through manoeuvring,” he said.
DMK’s T K S Elangovan said the NCP will survive as the cadre will not back Ajit Pawar. RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha concurred. He said Pawar senior will rebuild NCP from scratch.
“I don’t think Ajit Pawar can be a match to Sharad Pawar. He might have gained some positions… That is all. Beyond that, he cannot go to Sharad Pawar’s supporters and muster their support. They may not go,” Elangovan said.
“This is just a family feud. He wanted to become the president but Supriya Sule was made the working president. So out of anger, he has gone to the BJP which has made use of this small issue in their favour. But Pawar is one of the most senior leaders of Indian politics and his supporters will stand by him,” he said.
Asked about Opposition unity efforts, he said, “They (BJP) are trying to break this unity. They are afraid of this unity. That is the problem. They wanted to do something against the Opposition unity. The BJP is afraid of it. So they are trying small things like this… breaking parties… It will not affect Opposition unity. In fact, the cadre will get angry with Ajit Pawar.”
Asked about Praful Patel, who attended the Opposition meeting with Pawar, RJD’s Jha said, “I am reminded of the couplet ‘Har aadmi mein hote hain das bees aadmi, jis ko bhi dekhna ho kai baar dekhna’. It is very difficult to predict… these kinds of situations.”
On the impact, he said, “If Tejashwiji and Laluji are there… even if I am not there… will it make any difference? Pawar Saab can rebuild anything… he can rebuild the NCP from scratch.”
“It is clear that this decision is not of some individuals or parties. A script is being written and the Prime Minister and his core team are involved. The PM had indicated from Bhopal a couple of days ago that not a single corrupt person will be spared and what happened today… this is their style of functioning…. first, level allegations of corruption, corner the leader…. pressurise… the outcome you saw in Maharashtra,” he said.
“The Prime Minister may say a hundred things but what he actually wants is an Opposition-free democracy. Agencies like the ED, IT, CBI are used to ensure that political decisions are changed. Look at the ministers who took oath today. They were facing raids till the other day. It is a testimony of the politics of the Prime Minister and the priorities of his party,” Jha said.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “Madhya Pradesh was the first laboratory for the BJP… Maharashtra has become an even bigger laboratory for the BJP. You will see what all experiments the BJP will do as we approach the Lok Sabha elections because it does not want to lose power. It wants to cling on to power even if the poor, farmers, deprived, exploited, backward, Bahujan don’t find a place anywhere but they want a place in power.”
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury also hit out at the BJP. “Manipur is burning. And you see the BJP indulging in its own game of engineering defections and using the weapon of the ED,” he said. Asked about Opposition unity, he said, “That will be there. This is their pastime. They have done it in Goa, in Madhya Pradesh, in Karnataka, in the North East.”
Yechury said he had no “inkling directly” that the NCP would split. “But the fact that Pawar made some changes… Supriya Sule and Praful Patel were made working presidents and all… so, obviously something was going on,” he said.
“This is clearly part of the BJP’s game of engineering defections. Even after losing elections, they form the government. That has become the BJP style of politics,” he said, maintaining that the developments will not impact Opposition unity efforts. “There will be no impact. That will continue. He (Pawar) will still be there,” he said.
