Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar predicted here on Tuesday that no party would get a majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and that there would be a change in the Government at the Centre.
Speaking at India Today’s Mumbai Manthan event here, Pawar said: “Today’s political situation is much more like the one in 2004. It does not seem possible for a single party to remain in power in 2019. No party would have that mandate....I don’t think that the power equations will remain same in Maharashtra and at the Centre in 2019. There would be changes in both Maharashtra and New Delhi”.
Alluding to the fact that the AB Vajpayee-led BJP had gone into the Lok Sabha polls with an impressive “India Shining” campaign but failed to return to power, Pawar said: “The 2019 polls would be like 2004 election when no party got the majority but a coalition Government under Manmohan Singh came to power and it continued for 10 years”.
Queried if the Opposition would have an alternative to Modi to lead a coalition of Opposition parties, Pawar said: “In 2004, the BJP was led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. They said that there was no alternative to Vajpayee...Compare Vajpayee’s stature and leadership with the current Prime Minister’s stature and leadership. I think Vajpayee was one of the tallest leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party. I don’t think that is the situation even in that party today,” Pawar said.
Anticipating that the 2019 polls would throw up an alternative to Modi, Pawar said: “Who had thought in 2004 that Manmohan Singh would be the Prime Minister? There is never a vacuum in politics. Every situation throws up a leader.”
Referring to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram’s statement that the Congress had not projected party president Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate, Pawar said: “Chidambaram has stated the fact. He has placed on record the position of the Congress party. In my discussions with the Congress leadership, it has never occurred that they want to present someone as the candidate and insist on the candidature by thrusting their choice on other parties. But the party wants change”.
Pawar said that he agreed with Chidambaram’s view that no leader should be projected as a Prime Ministerial candidate from the Opposition for the 2019 polls and that the Prime Minister should be decided by the coalition partners in post-election scenario.
Rejecting the the possibility of “Modi versus Rahul” battle during the 2019 polls, the NCP chief said: “I have had talks with Rahul Gandhi also. His thoughts are not much different from what Chidambaram has said.....The existing political situation in the country does not suit for a personality-based electoral contest for Lok Sabha”.
Ruling out the emergence of “mahagathbandhan (grand alliance of Opposition)” ahead of the 2019 polls, Pawar said: “Such a political environment is not there in the country (where we can expect Mahagathbandhan.