One of the founders of the NCP, Anwar said rejoining the Congress, which he left in 1999 along with Pawar, was one of the options he is exploring. (File photo)
Peeved over NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s “defence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal row, senior NCP leader Tariq Anwar on Friday quit the party and said he will resign from Lok Sabha.
One of the founders of the NCP, Anwar said rejoining the Congress, which he left in 1999 along with Pawar, was one of the options he is exploring.
Anwar, who wrested Katihar Lok Sabha seat from BJP in the 2014 election despite the Narendra Modi wave, told The Indian Express that he is leaving the NCP because of Pawar’s statement. “From his statement, I felt he has some soft corner for the BJP and the Prime Minister.”
Sources in the NCP, however, said he had been thinking about leaving the party for some time.
Asked how a seasoned politician like him could leave the party on the basis of one statement, he said, “We have been waging an agitation against the BJP, particularly against the Prime Minister, and it will not be proper if that campaign is weakened in any way….Our party has always been anti-communal. It is not right if any softness appears in that stand.”
Anwar said he did not speak to Pawar before announcing his resignation. “I read his interview and saw it on the TV. I waited till night thinking that it will be contradicted. But there was no contradiction from him… in the morning, I decided to quit.”
There is speculation that Anwar could join either the Congress or the RJD. “Congress is my parent party….That option is also open. But I haven’t taken a decision so far. I have not spoken to the leader of any party,” he said.
Anwar was the president of Bihar Congress in the 1980s, an AICC general secretary and member of the Congress Working Committee in the 1990s and represented Katihar as a Congress MP four times before he left the party with Pawar and the late P A Sangma to form the NCP over Sonia Gandhi’s foreign-origin issue in 1999. The NCP later allied with the Congress and Anwar served as a Union minister in the UPA-II government.
Anwar said he respects Pawar, but added, “I fully disagree with his defence of Modi government on the Rafale deal. His statement has shattered the faith of people in Opposition, he cannot betray common perceptions about irregularities in the deal”. He might join the Congress and contest 2019 polls from Katihar.
A senior Congress leader said it would not be a bad idea for Anwar to “come back home”. An RJD leader said Anwar would remain a Grand Alliance leader, irrespective of which party he joins.
A senior NCP leader said, “He (Anwar) had been thinking about leaving the NCP and joining the Congress or the RJD. He had a feeling that Pawar is soft on Modi. There is a substantial Muslim population in his constituency. That is why he has been worried,” he said.
The NCP, meanwhile said, Pawar’s statement was being read out of context. Senior NCP leader D P Tripathi said Pawar had also said the government owes it to the country to explain “how the cost of Rafale fighter jets increased”.