Party tries to mollify leaders as another general secretary Munaf Hakim resigns
The NCP on Friday plunged into crisis after two of its general secretaries — Tariq Anwar and Munaf Hakim — resigned from the party aggrieved over party chief Sharad Pawar’s “defence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal.
Immediately, the party got into the damage-control mode with senior NCP leader Praful Patel clarifying that Pawar has not given a “clean chit to anybody” in the Rafale deal and backed the demand for JPC probe into the purchase of the fighter jets.
In a statement before the media at his Parliamentary constituency Katihar, Anwar said he is resigning from the posts of the NCP’s national general secretary and as its leader in the Lok Sabha, besides giving up the party’s primary membership and vacating his parliamentary seat.
Senior NCP leader and Rajya Sabha member DP Tripathi confirmed that Anwar has quit the party.
Anwar alleged the Prime Minister is fully involved in the Rafale deal and it is also substantiated by former French President Francois Hollande, referring to his reported remarks about France being left with no option in Dassault selecting Reliance Defence as an offset partner as part of the multi-billion dollar deal.
He said he completely disagreed with Pawar’s version, which he said has shattered the faith of countrymen in the Opposition.
Munaf Hakim, who hails from Maharashtra, said he had quit the primary membership of the party and claimed it is “difficult” to defend its image after Pawar “supported” the Prime Minister in the Rafale fighter jet issue.
Hakim, a former chairman of the State minorities commission, told PTI that he is following Anwar by resigning and added that more NCP workers might follow suit.
About the implications of Anwar’s resignation for the NCP, Patel said, “The party doesn’t get impacted just because somebody joins it or leaves it. It is sad to note that after working with us for so many years, he (Anwar) decided to quit without even informing us. It is very surprising because he has based his decision on an interview by Pawar to a news channel.”
Meanwhile, NCP MP and Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule said it is “disappointing” that people have not heard Pawar raising three key questions on the Rafale deal. “What is the justification for a 300 per cent raise from Rs 526 crore to Rs 1,670 crore which potentially could be a significant loss to the exchequer (sic)?” she tweeted.
“If such doubts have been raised and the Government is so confident, then why are they shying from setting up a JPC?” Sule said in another tweet.
She also said when the BJP raised both price and specification issues during the Bofors allegations, “why are they hiding behind artificial justification of secrecy of agreements vis-a-vis both commercial price and offset agreements.”
Placed in an embarrassing situation by Pawar’s purported clean chit to Modi, the Congress dubbed media reports about Pawar’s statement s “false and unfounded” and claimed it was a conspiracy to create a rift between the two parties.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Pawar clarified to Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge that he had not made any such statement as the NCP favoured the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the deal.
Surjewala said the NCP chief held detailed discussion with Kharge and made it clear that “this is untrue and unfounded”.
Anwar as the NCP candidate had successfully contested the 2014 General elections from Kaithar in an alliance with RJD and Congress and retained the seat amidst the Modi wave then.
Anwar was the Bihar Congress president in the 1980s and had represented his current parliamentary constituency Katihar as a Congress MP four times, before he joined hands with Pawar and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma to form the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999.
The NCP later allied with the Congress and Anwar served as a Union Minister in the UPA-II Government.