NCP is ‘backstabber’, says state Cong chief
HT Correspondent
MUMBAI: Soon after the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) joined hands with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Gondia Zilla Parishad elections on Tuesday, Congress lashed out at NCP for “back-stabbing” them.
Reacting sharply to the development, Nana Patole, president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) said that he will report their ‘machinations’ to the Congress highcommand. “I will speak to our high-command on the NCP repeatedly back-stabbing the Congress. They have done this at several places, like Malegaon and Bhiwandi. We will discuss their relations with the BJP and surely aim at evolving a solution to it,” said Patole, adding that the three parties, namely, Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress had come together to keep the BJP out of power in Maharashtra.
At the Gondia ZP elections, BJP’S Pankaj Rahangdale was elected as the president, while NCP’S Yashwant Ganvir became the vice-president. Patole added, “By allying with the BJP in Gondia-bhandara, the NCP has shown that they want to cling on to power and that the Congress is their opponent.” Meanwhile, in neighbouring Bhandara, the Congress managed to split five BJP Zilla Parishad members, led by former MLA Charan Waghmare to elect Gangadhar Jibkate as the president. Patole is a legislator from Sakoli in Bhandara and was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bhandara-gondia constituency in 2014.
Patole alleged that he had spoken to senior NCP leaders like the water resources minister and the party’s state unit chief Jayant Patil and former union minister Praful Patel regarding the elections in Gondia. But, the two had kept the Congress waiting and then allied with the BJP. “Treachery is not in our blood… we expect that if you want to be friends, be honest in your friendship, don’t stab others in the back,” he charged. However, Jayant Patil denied Patole’s allegations. “It was expected that the local leaders should have collaborated and ensured that the MVA stood together. Nana Patole had contacted us earlier, but it seems that relations at the local level were strained, creating problems in joining hands. We will surely go into these details. The NCP had no intention of disturbing (the arrangements in the) MVA. In fact, the NCP favours that all three parties must join hands and stay together,” added Patil.
In January, all 28 Congress corporators from Malegaon in Nashik district joined the NCP. They were led by former MLA Shaikh Rashid.