Cong-NCP rift widens on eve of seat talks

Prakash Joshi & S Balakrishnan / TNN / Feb 27, 2009, 02:51 IST

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Faultlines in the the ruling alliance of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party came out in...

Cong-NCP rift widens on eve of seat talks

MUMBAI: Faultlines in the the ruling alliance of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party came out in the open on Thursday following criticism of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in an NCP periodical.
The periodical, Rashtravadi, contained an editorial in its latest edition which was critical of Sonia and Rahul and accused them of being rude towards constituent parties of the UPA.
Tempers shot up in the Congress camp with senior party MP Gurudas Kamat threatening that his party will have to rethink its alliance with the NCP if the latter ridiculed its leaders. He said Sonia and Rahul have been courteous and humble in their conduct towards leaders of all parties which constitute the UPA. His threat assumed significance in the background of the NCP hobnobbing with the Shiv Sena.
The Congress is already upset with the NCP's open projection of Pawar as its prime ministerial candidate since it clashes with its own ambition of having Rahul as the next prime minister.

The controversy has broken out on the eve of the crucial seat-sharing talks between the two parties. Of the total of 48 Lok Sabha seats, the NCP wants 24 seats, while the Congress is willing to concede only 21 seats. State NCP chief R R Patil said since the 2004 polls his party has made more inroads in rural Maharashtra as evidenced in the outcome of polls to municipal councils and zilla parishad. He said this fact should be factored in by the Congress. But the latter is in no mood to relent.

MPCC spokesperson and former minister Hussein Dalwai and city Congress chief Kripashankar Singh too joined the chorus of condemnation of the NCP. While civil aviation minister and NCP general secretary Praful Patel tried to pull his party out of the controversy by stating that views contained in Rashtravadi were not necessarily that of his party. The NCP also noted that a daily owned by the Rajendra Darda of the Congress was often critical of the NCP and its leader Sharad Pawar. NCP state spokesperson Madan Bafna said,"Views expressed in Rashtrawadi issue do not reflect the official stand of my party. We have never criticised UPA president or any other leader during last five years of our alliance."
Dalwai insisted that the NCP should clarify its stand. He pointed out that Sandesh, the Congress mouth piece edited by Sonia Gandhi, never carried any articles critical of other partners of the UPA.
The NCP's explanation did not impress the Congress since the printer and publisher of Rashtrawadi was none other than R R Patil.
Sources in the Congress said the NCP was working out a tacit understanding with the Shiv Sena to secure the latter's support to Pawar's candidature for prime ministership.

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