MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) seems to have begun efforts to align itself with the change of guard in its long-time ally, the Congress. But mutual distrust and dislike between the president-to-be of the grand old party and the leadership of the NCP is likely to pose a serious threat to the latter.
The NCP president, Sharad Pawar, gave an indication of the changing line of the party on the Gandhi scion at an event organised by a journalists’ association in Mumbai last month.
“In the past few years, Rahul Gandhi has been ridiculed on social media and other mediums, and this was done at the behest of the ruling party. Rahul has had to pay a price for this. Those who were making fun of him are the butt of ridicule today. The ruling party’s reality has come to the fore, people are viewing Rahul differently,” Pawar said.
This appears to be his revised opinion. In May this year, Pawar had, in an interview, maintained that the united opposition could not rely on Rahul Gandhi to defeat Modi.
“I recently met him (Rahul Gandhi). I realised that the young leader was making grand efforts. He is visiting various places across the country trying to understand the real issues. But then, one fine day he just vanishes from the scene and people realise that he is on leave in some foreign location. This adversely affects credibility. People don’t tend to take such leaders seriously. Hence I’ve advised him to avoid taking such abrupt breaks,” Pawar had said, voicing his concerns.
“Rahul will have to mend his ways if he intends to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Pawar had added.
Rahul Gandhi, too, has always nurtured a dislike for the NCP, believing that the Congress should sever its ties with the NCP if it wanted to grow. In 2013, Rahul had publicly stated this in Pune.
“Congress doesn’t need the NCP to be back in power in the state and in the Centre in 2014,” he had said.
Several state Congress leaders had hailed Rahul’s line at that time. With Rahul taking over command of the party, those leaders are expected to take charge in Maharashtra, which could cause trouble for the NCP.
Senior Congress spokesperson and a staunch Pawar opponent from Pune, Anant Gadgil, thinks that with politics changing at the Centre and the states, the NCP would have to toe the Congress line.
“In 2004, they (NCP) were stronger in the state. They had more seats. But the situation has changed a lot since then. Even after its worst debacle, the Congress had more numbers than them in 2014,” Gadgil said, explaining why the NCP would have to align itself with the Congress.
The NCP leadership feels that the ascent of Rahul Gandhi will widen the rift between the two parties.
Pawar had formed the NCP after challenging Sonia Gandhi 20 years ago, but she has always treated him with due respect. In 2004, she visited his residence in Delhi with an appeal to forge an alliance. In the UPA government, the NCP had a strong hand.
After Pranab Mukherjee, Pawar was the Union minister who was a member of the maximum number of Groups of Ministers. Most decisions were taken keeping in view of the NCP’s opinion. Would things remain the same in Rahul’s regime is the question, said a senior NCP leader.