NEW DELHI, June 21: A second meeting within a fortnight between the Nationalist Congress Party chief and veteran politician Sharad Pawar and the noted poll strategist Prashant Kishor has evoked keen interest in the political circles about their next move.
The meeting on Monday at Pawar’s residence lasted for more than one and half hours amidst heightened speculations that either the poll strategist has decided to work for the NCP or the two together were trying to forge a possible third front to take on the BJP.
The meeting comes a day before the NCP’s general body meeting scheduled to be held at Pawar’s residence.
Kishor, who was instrumental in the Trinamool Congress’ victory in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, had also met Pawar on June 11, fuelling the talk of opposition parties coming together against the BJP.
According to sources, former finance minister and now a TMC leader Yashwant Sinha, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh are also expected to call on Pawar on Tuesday.
Kishor, who had been part of the BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, later became a poll strategist for several non-NDA parties.
He had handled the poll strategy of the TMC in the West Bengal Assembly polls and for the DMK in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections this year. He had also been a poll strategist for the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance in the 2015 Bihar assembly polls.
Meanwhile, amidst reported request by some Shiv Sena members to the party chief and the Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to return to the NDA fold to help the party members avoid “harassment” by some central agencies, the Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said the coordination among allies of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra was a model example of how a coalition government should function.
Attempts to create a rift among the ruling allies – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – will not work, Raut said. “The bond among the three parties is strong,” he asserted and said all of them were also working to strengthen their respective party organisations.
Raut’s comments came days after Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole spoke about going solo in future elections.
“There is no decision yet on how to contest future elections and it will be taken at an appropriate time. The commitment of the three parties is that the present government will last for five years. The common minimum programme (CMP) is the soul of this alliance,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
Raut also made it clear that any attempts to create a rift among the allies will not work, and said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is maintaining an excellent rapport with the Congress and NCP.
Notably, Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, who is under the Enforcement Directorate’s scanner for alleged money laundering, has urged Thackeray to reconcile with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi “before it is too late”, saying such a move will save leaders like him from problems being created by “Central agencies”.
In his June 10 letter addressed to Thackeray, Sarnaik alleged that the Congress and NCP were weakening the Shiv Sena by creating divisions in its ranks.
Asked about Sarnaik’s letter, Raut said the Shiv Sena has only one faction -led by Uddhav Thackeray.
“Our party is yet to be affected by factionalism. The party’s stand of joining hands with the Congress and NCP was taken after due consultation with all Shiv Sena leaders,” he said.
Pratap Sarnaik is a Sena leader and “is in trouble,” Raut said, adding that the MLA had mentioned he and his family were being harassed by central investigating agencies and that he wanted the party to reconcile with Modi.
“It is his personal view. The party’s stand has been decided. The party stands by Sarnaik in his time of trouble,” Raut said.
He further said harassment of political rivals by central investigating agencies was also witnessed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders in West Bengal.
“This doesn’t suit Maharashtra’s culture,” Raut said.
(Manas Dasgupta)