The NCP’s national foray, especially in UP and Goa, has rubbed the BJP on the wrong side.
On Saturday, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis had an animated exchange over the NCP’s role in national politics.
The immediate provocation was Fadnavis’ swipe at NCP chief Sharad Pawar; the latter remarked that a party cannot have pretensions about being ‘national’ just because it has the word ‘nationalist’ in its name. To buttress his contention, Fadnavis claimed that the NCP’s footprint is restricted to only three and a half districts of Maharashtra.
Taking umbrage, Ajit Pawar shot back and slammed Fadnavis saying that he should show respect and restraint while criticizing Sharad Pawar, considering his stature in national politics.
Fadnavis, who is in charge of BJP poll management in Goa, refused to hold back his punches, ‘‘The NCP is a party confined to Western Maharashtra; it professes to be a national party but it has to restrict itself to neighbourhood catchment areas.’’
He further added, ‘‘The NCP has no existence of its own. That is, it has not assumed power on its own. In such a situation, there is no need to take NCP seriously in Goa. In Uttar Pradesh, the NCP is joining hands with Samajwadi Party, just as in Maharashtra it has aligned with the Congress and the Shiv Sena.’’
Responding to the bluster, Ajit Pawar said, ‘‘Nobody should undermine anybody. Each person has reached a certain position due to sustained work over the years.’’
He clarified that he speaks on state-related issues, just as NCP veterans talk on national politics.
‘’NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik, party MP Praful Patel or my sister Supriya Sule will respond to Fadnavis' criticism. But the new generation should speak with respect, considering Sharad Pawar’s stature and his work at the national level," he answered.
Fadnavis’ outburst came days after Pawar took a dig at BJP saying that not a single day goes by when a BJP leader does not leave the party. He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and without naming him directly said, ‘‘Once the common man decides, then no matter how powerful a person is, he cannot withstand the united onslaught.’’
Incidentally, Fadnavis had joined hands with Ajit Pawar after the duo took oath as CM and DCM on November 23, 2019, but the arrangement lasted for only 80 hours, as Pawar resigned and went back to the NCP.
Fadnavis, during the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections in 2019, had launched a stinging attack on Sharad Pawar and said that the “break-and-make’’ kind of politics practised by the NCP chief was catching up with his own party.
However, the NCP had reminded him that Pawar's power play had worked, as the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government had formed the government, successfully keeping the BJP at bay.
