Days after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) repeatedly denied the secret meeting held between party chief Sharad Pawar and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as well as the possible tie up between the two parties to form the government in Maharashtra, state NCP president and Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, on Thursday, ruled out any alliance.
He slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for spreading rumours and said that NCP and BJP have different ideologies, so an alliance between the two parties is not possible. “Let me again clarify that there was no meeting held between Pawar and Shah. Pawar had travelled to Ahmedabad to participate in the sugar conference. This is BJP’s move to create confusion,” he claimed.
As far as a tie up between NCP and BJP is concerned, Patil said, “Both parties differ on their ideologies. There is no substance to the ongoing talks in this regard. The Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, is strong and the state government is quite stable. Pawar played a crucial role to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the state. Despite the pandemic, BJP is pursuing its game plan to capture power in the state.”
Patil criticised the central government and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for withdrawing the order on the sharp cut in interest rates. “How can the minister say it was due to oversight? Government takes decisions after due consultations. However, it was withdrawn in less than 12 hours fearing loss in the ongoing assembly elections in five states,” he claimed.
