Maha Vikas Aghadi partner Congress party on Monday has stepped up attack against the Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar for his recent comment on Rahul Gandhi.
State Congress chief and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said it seems Pawar has not properly understood the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Pawar in an interview to a Marathi daily had said that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi appeared to lack consistency when it came to the question of being accepted as a leader by the country. When asked if the country was ready to accept Rahul Gandhi as the leader, Pawar had said, "There are some questions in this regard. There seems to be less consistency." He, however, took exception to former US President Barack Obama's unflattering comments about the Congress leader.
However, Thorat took strong objection to Pawar’s views. "Rahul Gandhi is our leader and his leadership has been accepted by the party. Under Rahul's leadership, the Congress party is uniting at the national level. We acknowledge the seniority of Sharad Pawar, but I think he fell short of understanding Rahul Gandhi,’’ he said.
Thorat also expressed confidence that Rahul Gandhi will lead the party in the future. "This is despite BJP's machinery working against what Rahul Gandhi is doing,’’ he opined.
Thorat’s attack against Pawar comes three days after the state Congress working president and minister of woman and child welfare Yashomati Thakur without naming Pawar had said the alliance partners must stop commenting on the leadership of the Congress if they wanted a stable government in Maharashtra.
"Our leadership is very strong and stable. The formation of MVA is a result of our strong belief in democratic values. I must appeal to colleagues in MVA if you want a stable government in Maharashtra, then stop commenting on leadership of Congress. Everybody should follow basic rules of the coalition," she said in her tweet.
However, NCP had shot back. NCP state spokesman Mahesh Tapase said that Pawar's comment should be "considered as fatherly advice".
"MVA is a government of all three parties. It was Sharad Pawar who criticised Barack Obama for commenting on Rahul Gandhi in his book. Pawar saheb had clearly said Obama must not comment on leaders of other countries," said Tapase.
