Having decided to stand by its ally, the rebellion-hit Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress, which is one of the constituents of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), dropped its plans to rake up the issue of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly. The post has fallen vacant after outgoing LoP Ajit Pawar joined the Shinde-Fadnavis Government as the Deputy Chief Minister.
In the presence of the party in-charge of Maharashtra, HK Patil, who flew down from New Delhi for the meeting, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai. During the meeting, the party MLAs took stock of the situation arising from the vertical split in the NCP, which has led to the vacancy of the LoP’s post in the Assembly.
This development should be seen in the context of the fact that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP had named former minister Jitendra Awhad as LoP-designate after Ajit Pawar’s exit from the party.
At the meeting, the Congress decided not to stake a claim for the LoP’s post in the larger interests of Opposition unity.
Talking to media persons after the CLP meeting, HK Patil stated that the Congress was part of the MVA, comprising its own party, the NCP, and Shiv Sena, and it would remain united with the other two constituents in the Opposition alliance. The CLP meeting was attended by 39 of the 45 Congress MLAs of the party.
“No ruling has come on the unconstitutionality of the Shinde-Fadnavis Government ruling the State. In such a situation, the BJP has once again indulged in politics of breaking other parties. The people have not taken kindly to the ‘Operation Latus’ practiced by the BJP. In Karnataka, the people showed the door to the BJP. In Maharashtra, the BJP engineered a split in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, and now the Sharad Pawar-led NCP,” Patil said.
“We — Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena (UBT) — together are fighting against the BJP. We will continue to do so,” Patil added.
Patil, State Congress President Nana Patole, Working President Naseem Khan, CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat, former Chief Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Ashok Chavan were among others present at the CLP meeting.
After the meeting, senior state Congress leaders, including Patole, Khan, and Thorat, later called on NCP chief Sharad Pawar and extended their support to his party in the wake of the rebellion engineered by his nephew Ajit Pawar and others.
Speaking to media persons, State Congress President Nana Patole clarified that no discussions were held on the issue of Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly.
“We are on a wait-and-watch mode. After the meetings of both the factions of the NCP scheduled for Wednesday, the position will be clear,” Patole said.
“We will strengthen the MVA and the Congress. We have supported Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. We will wait and watch how developments unfold in the coming days,” Patil said.
