Since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of the country and BJP came into power in Maharashtra state, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and BJP leaders have been exchanging lots of praises for each other. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s unpredictable behaviour and constant attack on BJP has send wrong signals to voters and political pundits. However, pundits have already predicted that in future Sena-MNS may alliance with former Shiv Sainiks like Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane like rebellious leaders and bring out a new political alliance. Power centric Pawar is the grassroots level politician and can ensure future for BJP in the state. Whereas, Uddhav’s uncertain approach has embarrassed BJP quite often.
Recently, Pawar attacked Thackeray’s leadership and said under his presidentship Shiv Sena lacks self-respect. Pawar said Sena should have quit the BJP government in Maharashtra after BJP President Amit Shah’s comments to BJP workers. Pawar who was a good friend of senior Thackeray late Sena Chief Bal Thackeray said, “It was different when Balasaheb was running the Sena. The Sena had self-respect then. Now, there is a huge question on how much self respect is left with the Sena.
When relations between the Sena and the BJP deteriorated ever since the Ghulam Ali concert was cancelled under pressure from Sena activists and then ink was smeared by Sena activists on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, BJP initiated contact with Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel and an attempt is being made to send out a clear message to the Shiv Sena that there is no threat to the BJP government even if the Sena decides to walk out of the alliance. Since then BJP and NCP is showing their amicable side by keeping 2019 in mind.
NCP’s one of the senior leader said, on the condition of anonymity that there are chances of BJP gets full support from NCP and even they got support in 2014 assembly election too. Many of its NCP leaders joined BJP with the consent of Pawar. Pawar feels that if Modi fails as PM then he could fulfil his long pending dream of becoming the PM under the NDA’s umbrella.
When AV asked NCP’s official spokesperson Nawab Malik, he denies any development in this regards. He said, “Our history is there that we don’t have personal enmity with anybody. Yes, we do have ideology differences which do exist between BJP and NCP. BJP is our political rival and there is no question of alliance with BJP.
When AV Madhav Bhandari, spokesperson of BJP’s Maharashtra unit and asked him about this, he confirmed that PM has praised the Pawar but denied the alliance charges. He said, “We never praise any NCP leader except its chief Sharad Pawar and that was his 75th Birthday event, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited, that praise should be taken as a goodwill gesture.
Shaina NC, BJP’s national spokesperson attacking Shiv Sena said, “Shiv Sena wants to be in news by opposing BJP in every decision. They are behaving like an opposition leaders. However, people are fed-up with their nonsense and this will affect them in a long run. Shiv Sena is creating hurdles in BJP’s works and even their ministers are not working in their respective ministries.”
On alliance with NCP she had not fully denied the charges and said, “BJP has emerged as a single largest party, we don’t need any support from parties like NCP. However, anything is possible in politics.”
Recently, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said that Pawar was a progressive leader whose contribution in shaping Maharashtra would be acceptable to everyone. He pointed out that it was only Yashwantrao Chavan for whom such a congratulatory motion was moved in the state assembly and for Pawar, it has been moved twice. The same Nagpur winter session had witnessed a congratulatory move on December 22, 1990 when Pawar completed 50 years.
In an interesting development, the government moved the motion for congratulating Pawar for completing 75 years. Pawar celebrated his 75th birthday with grand public functions in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, where BJP and Congress’s biggies marked their presence, soon after the event Pawar launched attack on Sonia Gandhi, while praised Modi for his good governance.
In the meantime, stating that the NCP chief maintained relations with all politicians cutting across party lines, Fadnavis in his half an hour speech said that Pawar was a leader who has in-depth understanding of issues faced by the country and thus has the quality to lead the country. Discipline, punctuality and strictly following Parliamentary norms were the hallmark of Pawar’s career, the chief minister opined. He went on to add that Pawar never had animosity with his political opponents and he has made an indelible mark in political, social, sports and every other field that he traversed.
Fadnavis also said that a few years ago, it was thought that the country would have the first Marathi prime minister in Pawar but unfortunately it has not happened yet.
