Is Congress planning to walk out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government? The trigger is state in Congress president Nana Patole’s statement on Monday that the party, which shares power with Shiv Sena and NCP in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, is not there to stick to power as it cannot tolerate insult to the party president Sonia Gandhi especially because of the violation of alliance agreement by NCP.
Patole's strong hint came amid the escalation of disputes between Congress and NCP over alliance with BJP in Bhandara and Gondia Zilla Parishad. Both have been engaged in a war of words over joining hands with BJP in these two Zilla Parishad in the Vidarbha region.
Patole said he has complained to the interim president Sonia Gandhi about systematic efforts by NCP to politically finish the Congress in Maharashtra despite sharing power. ‘’For the last two and a half years, NCP has been pursuing politics to help the BJP in Maharashtra. The issues on which the government was formed two and a half years ago are being violated. Therefore, our leader Sonia Gandhi is being insulted and we will not tolerate it. We have complained to the party leaders about the role of the NCP. The party leaders will soon take a decision on the complaint. The results will be seen in the next few days,’’ said Patole after returning from the Chintan Shivir held at Udaipur.
‘’We are not in government to stay in power, "Patole said. He, however, did not divulge details about whether the Congress party will walk out of the MVA government. He has left the decision to the party high command.
However, a veteran NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar downplayed Patole’s statement. ‘’Nana Patole has the right to tell his leaders what to do. There is no reason to give much importance to it,’’ he said. He further added, ‘’ We also tell Sharad Pawar and the Chief Minister if anything happens in the party. This is a tradition. It works. Our country has seen a 24-party NDA government and also the UPA government. The Congress-NCP alliance government was in power for 15 years in Maharashtra.’’
NCP in a strongly worded clarification has rebutted Patole’s claims about its alliance with BJP in Gondia Zilla Parishad. NCP reminded Patole about his tacit understanding with BJP not now but since 2015 in Bhandara.
State NCP chief Jayant Patil claimed that the NCP always wants that the three MVA allies should remain together, he said, “There may be some problem among local NCP and Congress leaders due to differences in opinions. We will look into its details,’’ he noted.
The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in November 2019 and kept BJP out of power despite winning 105 seats. However, rift among the three parties have surfaced on various occasions on various issues but leaders from the three parties claim that the government is strong and stable and complete five-year tenure.
