New Delhi: If NCP leader Sharad Pawar has an uncanny knack of talking in riddles, PM Modi has a penchant for sending out subtle messages. PM Modi seized the opportunity of reaching out to the NCP during a debate on the 250th session of the Rajya Sabha.
He did so by giving the Nationalist Congress Party a left-handed compliment for never rushing to the well of the House and yet managing to score brownie points effectively.
"These parties (the NCP and the BJD) have wonderfully adhered to parliamentary norms. They have never gone into the well of the house (to protest). Yet, they have made their points very effectively.
Every political party, including my party, should learn from them," he added.The message that went home to Sharad Pawar was: You have made your point by turning the tables on the BJP; now, let us find a new meeting ground.
Unless, of course, PM Modi merely wanted to create a flutter and confusion in the Sena camp by seemingly reaching out to the NCP.
The speculation was rife that Pawar may be under pressure from the Centre to scuttle the government formation efforts. Senior NCP leaders like Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel are already feeling the Enforcement Directorate heat, which the BJP hopes to use to leverage its position.
The buzz is that a number of cooperative banks and sugar mills, in which the NCP and Shiv Sena leaders have stakes, are also on the Home Ministry radar.
Pawar, however, dismissed the political missive at a press conference after his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He said the remarks had no political import and denied there was anything cooking between the NCP and the BJP.
But the media was not content with his denial, more so after he said there were no negotiations with the Shiv Sena for formation of a coalition government, stressing that the issues are still to be sorted out among the parties with which the NCP contested the Assembly elections in alliance.
NCP insiders said Pawar and Sonia are only buying time before giving a nod to Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister of the new coalition.
Sources in BJP said Shah may even get the Assembly dissolved to force fresh elections, instead of allowing Thackeray to take over the reins.They said his worry is that Uddhav Thackeray, once he is in control, will reopen the case of the mysterious death of Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya in Nagpur on December 1, 2014.
Soon after Loya's death, the new judge had acquitted Amit Shah in the Sohrabbudin case and he would not like the case coming to haunt him again by any kind of investigation.
