Could Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar lead the divided National Democratic Alliance (NDA)? Would he leave the embattled United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ahead of the 2014 general elections? Yes, if one asks veteran Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi.
Joshi said Pawar has all the potential, political acumen and capability to unify the fragmented NDA and lead it to power.
Joshi’s statement follows Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani predicting a non-BJP and non-Congress prime minister after the next parliamentary elections. It also comes at a time when the Congress and the NCP have arrived at a truce, after Pawar had threatened to pull out of the UPA government and support it from the outside till the next elections.
Joshi, however, indicated the patch-up between the two parties would not last long, and Pawar may come under the NDA fold before the elections in 2014. “If the first Marathi Manoos makes it to the prime minister’s post, my party chief and I will certainly be very happy. The Shiv Sena chief had also supported UPA candidate Pratibha Patil during the 2007 Presidential elections, as she was Marathi Manoos. Pawar can bring together different parties against the Congress.
The Shiv Sena chief has been consistent on his views that the Congress-led UPA government needs to be unseated in the coming elections. Pawar has all the abilities to become prime minister, but he has not been exploiting these,” Joshi said.
Earlier, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had stated Advani’s musings were demoralising. He had asked the NDA not to lose heart. “If Advani has any doubts, he can come to me and I will give him a dose of morale and strength,” Thackeray had said.
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Joshi said opposition parties had the necessary strength to assume power, but it was ironical that several opposition leaders were currently engaged in one-upmanship.
Meanwhile, an NCP leader, on condition of anonymity, rubbished Joshi’s argument, saying Pawar had already announced NCP’s alliance with Congress would continue even after the 2014 elections. Speaking to Business Standard, the NCP leader said, “During Saturday’s Maharashtra-level coordination meeting between Congress and the NCP, we discussed strengthening the coalition further, and winning the 2014 parliamentary and Maharashtra legislative assembly elections.”