Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 28: Disquiet is prevailing in the opposition camp over the long silence in the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party topping it with the NCP founder president Sharad Pawar scheduled to share a platform with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Pune.
At a meeting of INDIA constituents in Parliament on Friday, many leaders flagged NCP patriarch’s scheduled event in Pune on August 1 where he is due to share the stage with Modi. They expressed concern that it would be bad optics for the coalition at a time when they are locked in a head-on battle with the government demanding a statement from Modi on Manipur violence.
Modi is slated to be conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award in Pune which is organised by the Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust. Pawar will be the chief guest at the ceremony.
The opposition leaders are already rattled by the fact that even nearly four weeks after his nephew Ajit Pawar rebelled against the party and joined the Shiv Sena (Shinde) – BJP government in Maharashtra taking with him a section of the NCP legislators, nothing is still clear about the aftermath of the revolt.
So far, neither of the factions have managed to show the support of at least 36 MLAs, the two-thirds of the party’s original strength in the House, to claim itself to be the original NCP and seek the party’s name and symbol. And after the initial shocking reaction, neither of the faction seem to be in any hurry to prove the majority.
After initial claims, Ajit Pawar faction had again recounted the party veteran to be the “president” of the party and met him twice unannounced seeking his blessings with an urge that the party may be kept united under his leadership. Though the senior Pawar did not respond, it was not clear what was cooking between the two factions. Sources close to Ajit Pawar had claimed that the faction was trying to convince Sharad Pawar to join the BJP-led NDA, though the veteran leader instead was present at the opposition camp in Bengaluru.
Both the factions have so far refrained from attacking or confronting each other either in the Maharashtra assembly or outside, keeping their doors open for other faction to join or re-join, as they engage in negotiations for resolving the impasse. The only signs of a division are the fact that the two NCP factions are split between the Treasury and Opposition benches inside the Maharashtra Assembly while outside while Ajit Pawar was present at the NDA meeting, uncle Pawar attended the INDIA platform.
Informed sources said at the Parliamentary meeting of the INDIA constituents on Friday, one of the leaders from a regional party broached the issue of Sharad Pawar sharing platform with Modi and it led to a lot of disquiet with members expressing disappointment. Many others suggested that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge or any other leader should speak to Sharad Pawar to dissuade him from participating in the event. NCP‘s Rajya Sabha member Vandana Chavan was the only representative from the party at the meeting, who did not comment on the issue.
The unity of the opposition parties under the INDIA umbrella will be tested next week in Parliament. Not only the horrific events in Manipur on which the Congress with the support of other opposition parties has moved a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the Aam Aadmi Party leaders pointed out that the voting on the Delhi Services Bill was also due next week. The bill is slotted for Monday in the Lok Sabha, could be moved in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday and for the Opposition to defeat the Bill, it needed to have 100% attendance.
They said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would urge Pawar to skip the award function to remain in Delhi for the vote on the legislation. The Opposition has decided to suspend its protest to debate the Delhi services Bill. In the Rajya Sabha, three Opposition MPs who are ill, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, JMM leader Shibu Soren and JD(U) leader Bashistha Narain Singh, would be present. The Opposition though is still short of three members — with suspended MPs Congress’s Rajni Patil and AAP’s Sanjay Singh. The third member is NCP MP Praful Patel, who recently switched sides and joined the BJP camp with Ajit Pawar.
Meanwhile, as the Opposition awaits the no-confidence motion to which Modi is expected to reply, the Trinamool Congress is likely to move a resolution on the subject in the West Bengal Assembly. It will be the first Opposition-ruled State to do so.
The idea was mooted for the other Opposition parties to take a similar step too, but at least in three Congress-ruled States — Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — it might not be possible as the Assembly session ended just recently. For both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, it was the last Assembly session before the State goes for polls. Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh assemblies would be meeting only after a considerable gap when the Manipur broil may not remain relevant.