Anwar quits NCP, LS after Pawar praises PM
katihar (Bihar) — In a jolt to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), one of its founding leaders, Tariq Anwar, on Friday quit the party and the Lok Sabha expressing disagreement with party chief Sharad Pawar who he said gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal.
“I have resigned from the NCP as well as the membership of Lok Sabha because I totally disagree with Sharad Pawar’s statement in support of Modi on Rafale deal,” he told the media here.
“The prime minister is fully involved in the Rafale deal,” said Anwar, a party General Secretary, reacting to Pawar’s television interview in which he said he did not think people doubt Modi’s intentions on a personal level.
Jolted by his move, the party said the decision was “unfortunate” while Pawar’s daughter and party MP Supriya Sule said the NCP chief’s comments on the prime minister and the Rafale deal have been misunderstood as he has actually demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal.
Anwar said he personally respected and honoured Pawar but felt his statement in support of Modi was unfortunate.
Anwar said that he was forced to take this decision to prove his moral stand in politics. “I am telling people one thing and cannot take another stand,” he said.
Anwar’s resignation brings down the NCP’s strength in the Lok Sabha to six.
Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, Sule said it was “disappointing” that the issues raised by Pawar in the interview regarding the Rafale fighter jet deal were ignored.
“It’s disappointing that people have not heard Pawar ... where he has clearly raised three questions: 1) what is the justification for a 300 percent price increase from Rs 526 crore to Rs 1,670 crore which potentially could be a significant loss to the exchequer?,” said Sule, a Lok Sabha member and a daughter of Pawar. “2) If such doubts have been raised and the government is so confident, then why are they shying from setting up a JPC? 3) When the BJP raised both price and specification issues during the Bofors allegations, then why are they hiding behind artificial justification of secrecy of agreements vis-a-vis both commercial price and offset agreements.” —
I have resigned from the NCP as well as the membership of Lok Sabha because I totally disagree with Sharad Pawar’s statement in support of Modi on Rafale deal.
Tariq Anwar