Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 10: The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) (NCP-SP) faction on Friday sought to calm down its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners describing the criticism over Sharad Pawar – Eknath Shinde meeting in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly building as a “storm over a tea cup” and claimed that the “misunderstanding” over the issue had been removed and “we are good now.”
A day after ally Shiv Sena (UBT) reacted sharply to the meeting between the veteran NCP(SP) leader Sharad Pawar and the Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde in the latter’s office inside the state Assembly, the NCP (SP) MP and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule stepped in to calm the political storm playing down the meeting and said too much had been read into it.
“It was just a short courtesy meeting. Nothing more than that,” Sule said on Friday and said the criticism by some of its alliance partners was a mere “storm over a tea cup.” Sule also rejected the speculation that a camp in her party was pushing for a switch to the NDA. “I am in constant touch with all our eight MPs. We are all united,” she told reporters.
She also rejected all speculations that the Pawar – Shinde meeting was a precursor to the NCP-SP joining the NDA camp. Reacting to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s strong remarks on the Pawar-Shinde meeting, Sule called it a “misunderstanding.” “I have spoken to Sanjay Raut. It was a misunderstanding. We are good now,” she said.
Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut had on Thursday questioned Sharad Pawar on meeting Shinde and holding his party’s meeting inside the Deputy Chief Minister’s office. Terming Shinde a “traitor” Raut had said meeting him would hit Sharad Pawar’s credibility. He also added that all the allies were hurt with the development.
But on Thursday, Raut clarified that the party was not angry with Pawar anymore. Calling Sharad Pawar “tallest leader” of the Aghadi alliance, he clarified that he had expressed party workers’ emotions over the meeting. He, however, repeated that Eknath Shinde should remain an untouchable for the MVA allies. “Shinde is a traitor. We should not give him legitimacy by meeting him. We can’t be seen sipping tea with a traitor,” Raut said.
Commenting on his meeting with Mr Pawar that triggered intense political speculation, Mr Shinde on Friday said political opponents should not be seen as enemies. Speaking in the Assembly, Shinde said: “As soon as I learnt that Sharad Pawar had arrived, I rushed to welcome him with a shawl and a coconut.” “We are political opponents, not enemies,” he added.
Sharad Pawar visited the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday to attend a crucial meeting on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. After the meeting, he had gone to meet Shinde at his office in the assembly premises. He even took a meeting of his party’s legislators there, sparking intense speculation. It was reported that Shinde had cut short a Cabinet meet and rushed to his office where Pawar was waiting. After the 15-minute meeting Shinde left while Pawar held a meeting of his party MLAs in the Deputy Chief Minister’s office.
Apart from UBT Sena, other Pawar ally Congress also stirred the pot saying some NCP (SP) MPs wanted to switch sides. “Five or six MPs from Sharad Pawar’s NCP are restless. It is unclear what they will do, but they are currently in a state of instability,” senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said.
Mr Chavan believed the Pawar- Shinde meeting was pre-planned and hinted that some political moves may be afoot. “I think it was a pre-planned meeting. Something is happening,” Mr Chavan said again on Friday. “I have been informed by some people in the government that there is a bid to poach NCP (SP)’s MPs,” he added.
Sharad Pawar’s party, however, denied any rift and hit back at the Congress leader. “No one is going anywhere! Our 8 MPs and 10 MLAs are united,” NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil said. “It is not right to keep making such predictions about another party. How would it be if I were to start making similar predictions about Congress MLAs tomorrow? It is not appropriate to speak about such matters until something actually happens,” the MLA said.
Maha Vikas Aghadi has been hit by a critical blow with the rebellion in the Sena UBT with six of its nine MPs switching to the Shinde camp.
