Sharad Pawar also indicated that he might attend one of the several MVA rallies being held statewide. (PTI) Upset with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders for publicly voicing their contradictory views, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has told Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to ensure that leaders of all three key players of the alliance speak in one voice before the masses.
Pawar said this at a meeting he held with Thackeray at his residence, Silver Oak, in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. Pawar also indicated that he might attend one of the several MVA rallies being held statewide.
“The NCP chief said all the three parties might have their own agenda and their own plans and policies, but when they go before the people as MVA leaders, they need to speak in one voice and one language. If we place forth our differing views before the people, they will get confused and it will be bad publicity for the MVA,” Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express.
Raut said the Sena chief agreed with Pawar’s views and expressed the need to hold discussions about not airing their views publicly, creating confusion and giving the BJP a handle to slam them. “We also hold similar views like those of the NCP chief,” Raut said.
In recent times, the MVA parties have been at loggerheads over various issues like the demand for a probe into the alleged malpractices by the Adani Group and on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar. On the Adani issue, Pawar had opposed a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe while Congress favoured a JPC. On the Savarkar issue, the Sena and NCP demanded a Bharat Ratna for him, while the Congress accused the Hindutva ideologue of working in the interest of the British after apologising and getting himself released from jail.
On Tuesday, when Pawar and Uddhav met, NCP’s Supriya Sule and Raut himself were present. They held a discussion for one-and-a-half hours. “To ensure coordination between MVA parties, the NCP chief and Uddhav Thackeray have always communicated with each other. The meeting was held in this backdrop,” Raut said.
Raut said the two leaders also discussed several issues including the demand for a JPC probe on the Adani issue, the uproar created by the ruling BJP in Parliament over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in London, PM Narendra Modi’s degree and the damage caused by unseasonal rain in Maharashtra. They also discussed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s visit to Ayodhya instead of taking steps to alleviate farmers’ woes, Raut said.
Raut added that Pawar is likely to attend one of the rallies being organised by the MVA across the state ahead of the elections. “The very first meeting of MVA in Aurangabad drew a huge response. On April 16, there will be a second meeting in Nagpur. On May 1, NCP chief Sharad Pawar is expected to address an MVA rally in Pune,” he said.