If the exit of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) from the group of 18 parties that have been working together to challenge the Modi government will cast its shadow on a meeting of the Opposition scheduled to be held here on Friday evening, another crack may have just appeared in their unity.
Sources close to Congress MP Ahmed Patel hinted that the 44th winning vote he received in the recent Rajya Sabha poll was probably not from one of the two Nationalist Congress Party legislators, but from the lone JD-U MLA, Chotubhai Vasava. As a matter of abundant caution, these sources said, Mr. Patel had thanked both the NCP and the JD-U.
If the Congress’s suspicion is right, then its relationship with the NCP may be in jeopardy: the two parties are, after all, partners in Maharashtra. It might also mean that the NCP will not show up for Friday’s meeting. Congress leaders are concerned that this may result in the NCP joining hands with the breakaway Congress, headed by Shankarsinh Vaghela, in the Gujarat Assembly polls.