'BJP is a national calamity': Sharad Pawar bats for national unity after Kejriwal's Delhi triumph

'BJP is a national calamity': Sharad Pawar bats for national unity after Kejriwal's Delhi triumph

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who is an architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, on Tuesday called upon the regional parties to join hands together to keep BJP out of power.

Sanjay JogUpdated: Tuesday, February 11, 2020, 08:40 PM IST
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Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who is an architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, on Tuesday called upon the regional parties to join hands together to keep BJP out of power.

‘’There is unanimity among the regional parties that BJP is a national calamity and it should be opposed by rallying together,’’ Pawar said in his reaction to the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party’s resounding victory over the BJP in the Delhi assembly election.

Pawar said he cannot predict what will happen in due course of time. ‘’However, there is a thinking among the regional and non BJP parties to come together. The Modi-Shah magic has failed in Delhi. BJP indulged in divisive politics and misused the official machinery for the polls. However, it has not worked,’’ he noted.

Pawar congratulated Kejriwal and AAP workers for achieving a sweeping victory in the polls. He went on to add that it is not over but the BJP will continue to face defeat in the coming assembly elections.

Pawar’s call to regional parties is important as Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are going for assembly elections in the near future. He had recently announced that he was prepared to initiate talks with the regional and like-minded parties to work out a strategy for taking on the BJP.

He played a major role to unite his party with Shiv Sena and Congress to form government in Maharashtra and thereby keep BJP at bay.

Further, Maharashtra Chief Uddhav Thackeray, who severed his party’s over 25-year-old alliance with BJP to ally with NCP and Congress for government formation in Maharashtra, said, ‘’I congratulate Arvind Kejriwal and the people of Delhi for AAP’s victory in Delhi polls. People have shown that the country will be run by Jan Ki Baat, not Mann Ki Baat. BJP called Kejriwal a terrorist but could not defeat him.’’

Thackeray was referring to how several BJP leaders including MP Pravesh Verma and union minister Prakash Javadekar had repeatedly called Kejriwal a ‘’terrorist’’ during the high pitch Delhi poll campaign.

Senior Shiv Sena leader and state minister Anil Parab said that the people of Delhi have backed the development works of AAP and voted for the party. "Despite deploying top leaders in the poll campaign, the BJP has been decisively rejected in Delhi as the people have voted on the issue of development only," Parab said.

Hailing AAP for its impressive election performance, NCP national spokesperson and state minister Nawab Malik said, "Politics of hatred and division has been rejected, the ideals of unity and brotherhood have won. The politics of sheer arrogance has been defeated and the people of Delhi have won."Expressing satisfaction at AAP's win, senior Congress leader and minister Vijay Wadettiwar said his party had never made tall claims or doled out figures that it (Congress) would win so many seats like the BJP.However, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, who had campaigned in Delhi, alleged that Congress indulged into match-fixing as the party transferred its vote bank to AAP.

‘’To isolate BJP, all parties worked in that direction. Instead of rallying together, parties should fight individually against BJP,’’ he noted.Patil said the BJP’s tally has risen to 7 from three adding that the party has improved its performance.Former BJP Sudhir Mungantiwar said that though the party did not fare on expected lines, it has improved upon its previous tally.

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