New Delhi, April 3
A day after Home Minister P. Chidambaram expressed his displeasure over NCP president Sharad Pawar’s decision to address a Third Front rally in Bhubaneswar today, the Maratha strongman failed to turn up for the BJD-Left public meeting ostensibly because his aircraft developed a technical snag.
However, Pawar’s decision not to share a platform with BJD and Left leaders is of a little comfort to the Congress, which continues to view him with a deep suspicion. There has been a serious trust deficit between the NCP chief and the Congress ever since Pawar parted company with the grand-old party on the issue of its president Sonia Gandhi’s “foreign origin” even though the two subsequently formed a coalition government in Maharashtra, while Pawar has been an important member of the UPA.
The Congress was clearly rattled by Pawar’s decision to share a platform with BJD and Left leaders who are working to defeat both BJP and Congress. Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel is learnt to have spoken to the Maratha strongman to dissuade him from attending today’s rally.
The Congress distrusts Pawar essentially because of his professed prime ministerial ambitions and his ability to forge friendships across the political divide. For instance, both Shiv Sena and the Samajwadi Party have already declared that they have no objections to Pawar’s candidature as the Prime Minister.
The Congress is aware that the NCP chief could jump ship if the upcoming elections throws up a badly-fractured mandate and the Third Front calls the shots in government formation as he has the ability to emerge as a consensus prime ministerial candidate. The NCP has already said Manmohan Singh is the Congress’s choice for Prime Minister and not that of the UPA. The Congress realises it is in no position to dictate terms to its partners, particularly after it declared it will not have any national-level pre-poll alliances with its regional
partners and will instead have state-specific seat adjustments.
On his part, Pawar is keeping his options wide open. He did not make it for the rally and instead addressed the meeting over the telephone while his senior party colleague DP Tripathy stood in for him. Pawar, whose party has an alliance with the BJD, is expected to visit Bhubaneswar next week and address a joint press conference with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The NCP chief is hoping that the “Pawar for PM” campaign will help improve his tally in Maharashtra, where his party is contesting 22 seats and enable him to drive a hard bargain after elections.
Keeping his channels of communication open with constituents of the Third Front, Pawar today insisted that the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra remains intact and that his party wants to continue with the UPA.
For the record, the Congress went along with Pawar’s public stand. Maintaining that they have no reason to disbelieve him, Congress leader Kapil Sibal today said, “ Pawar has made it clear that he is with the UPA. I will go by his statement.”
Mumbai: Replying to criticism by Congress leaders that he should not share platform with parties opposed to it, NCP chief and union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said he did not need advice from anybody on how to conduct political activities.
Pawar said he will visit Orissa soon for a day to campaign for NCP and BJD candidates. NCP is contesting one Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in Orissa in alliance with BJD.
“Just as the Congress has the right to stitch alliances in different states, the allies too have the right to do so,” he said.
He said Congress President Sonia Gandhi has named Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress party. “ A unanimous decision on the UPA’s choice will be taken after the elections,” he said.
— PTI
