A delegation of various political parties, including his own, is set to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday to persuade him not to felicitate Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in Pune on August 1. Modi is scheduled to be honoured with the Lokmanya Tilak Award at a function at the SP College ground on Tuesday. Pawar is scheduled to share the stage with Modi and confer the award on him. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), an NCP ally, has said that Pawar’s decision “does not look appropriate”. The delegation led by socialist leader Baba Adhav includes leaders from the veteran leader’s NCP faction, the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Aam Aadmi Party, and the CPI(M). They were supposed to meet Pawar on Sunday evening but the meeting was postponed to Monday after the NCP leader did not travel from Mumbai to Pune as per his initial plans. NCP Rajya Sabha MP Vandana Chavan said, “Personally, I am against our party chief sharing the stage with PM Modi who has broken our party and accused us of corruption. I urged Pawar saheb to stay away from the event. However, he said it was he who invited the PM to the function. He did it after being persuaded by members of the Tilak Trust, which is organising the felicitation. And this was before the Ajit Pawar-led rebellion.” Asked if Pawar had made the right call, NCP’s Pune chief Prashant Jagtap said, “An all-party delegation will be meeting our party chief to convince him to not attend the event. Since he has not come to Pune today, we will meet him on Monday morning and urge him to drop out of the function.” While the Congress, which is in alliance with the NCP in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, has said the decision to attend the event or not is up to the NCP chief, Shiv Sena (UBT) has been unequivocal in its stand that Pawar should not be seen felicitating Modi. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “When the Prime Minister is calling the constituents of INDIA all sorts of names and when he and his party have wrecked the NCP, it does not look appropriate for the NCP chief to attend the event and bestow the honour on the Prime Minister.” Raut added, “The BJP has not just broken the NCP into two pieces but the PM has described the NCP as a corrupt party. If the NCP has suffered so much, then how can its party head felicitate the Prime Minister? By doing so, Pawar will be harming his image and reputation. I think Pawar should avoid attending the function.” Raut said Pawar would send the wrong signal by attending the event. “It will create confusion in the minds of the people and the NCP workers and supporters. It will mean that Ajit Pawar has the support of the NCP national president.” VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar, whose outfit is in alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT), said Pawar’s decision was a “clear indication that the so-called rebellion by Ajit Pawar has his backing”. He added, “I think it was all a 'nautanki’. By attending the event, Pawar will be providing legitimacy to the BJP's act. You are honouring the same person for breaking your party into two halves. This is beyond imagination.” Ambedkar said, “A few centuries ago, the rajas and maharajas used to bow before the priests. The same mentality prevails today. They talk of principles, values, and morality. But where are those qualities? They trample upon such qualities and proclaim that they have done nothing wrong.” ‘It is his decision’ Though Congress will be part of the delegation that will meet Pawar, state Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “Our state chief Nana Patole has already said the NCP chief has to take the call about whether to attend the function or not …Therefore, we are leaving it to him.” Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan refused to comment on the matter. “It is his decision and he would be the better person to speak about it. If I say anything it would cause cracks in the alliance. I don't want that to happen. I want the MVA alliance to remain intact and we have a bigger enemy to fight,” said the former CM. A Congress leader who wished to remain anonymous said, “I don't think you can keep Pawar quiet at such a function. He is likely to hit back at the PM for his comments against the NCP and the split in his party.” Meanwhile, the constituents of the INDIA alliance — the coalition of 26 Opposition parties gearing up to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections — have decided to protest against Modi for not visiting violence-hit Manipur. The Opposition has been trying to get Modi to address the Manipur issue in Parliament and has moved a no-confidence motion to achieve its objective. The Lokmanya Tilak Award is conferred by the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust whose trustee Rohit Tilak is a Congress leader. Asked if Pawar had confirmed his participation, Rohit said, “We have received confirmation of his participation. The award will be presented to the Prime Minister by my father, who is the Trust president, and Pawar saheb who is the chief guest.” Rohit Tilak, the great-grandson of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, said he was not aware of the opposition to Pawar attending the event. Asked if the Congress had objected to his involvement in the event, Tilak said, “The Congress has not told me anything. Even otherwise, this is a non-political dais. In the past, we have honoured PMs Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We honour people from diverse fields and different ideologies for their outstanding work.” Justifying the award for PM Modi, Rohit said, “Swadeshi and Rashtriya Shikshan were close to the heart of Lokmanya Tilak. The Prime Minister has lived up to the vision of Lokmanya Tilak. He has preserved and protected our cultural roots. He is trying to make India self-reliant, which Lokmanya strongly believed in and propagated during the pre-Independence days. And therefore, the PM was our choice for the award.”
