Sharad Pawar brokers peace between Congress, Uddhav Thackeray faction

Sharad Pawar raised the issue during a meeting of Opposition leaders convened by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on March 27.

March 28, 2023 02:46 pm | Updated March 29, 2023 01:26 am IST - New Delhi

Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharaed Pawar. File

Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharaed Pawar. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar has intervened to rescue the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark on V.D. Savarkar created fissures between the Congress and the other MVA constituents — the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction and the NCP.

Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut is said to have spoken to Mr. Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday to iron out the differences.

Also read | Rahul Gandhi can never be Veer Savarkar even in his best dreams: Anurag Thakur

Sources said a plan to convene a meeting of top leaders of like-minded parties is also on the cards to take forward the Opposition unity that has been forged over Mr. Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

Sources said Mr. Pawar, while attending Mr. Kharge’s dinner for Opposition leaders on Monday evening, made it clear that the repeated attacks on Savarkar creates unease among the MVA allies as he is a revered figure in Maharashtra who was never part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The NCP supremo further pointed out that their political fight was against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Narendra Modi government

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Mr. Gandhi were present at the meeting along with leaders of the Opposition parties. Mr. Gandhi told the leaders that though his ideological position on the Savarkar issue is “firm”, he is willing to “mellow” down his position if it creates problems for the allies.

Leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray faction boycotted Mr. Kharge’s dinner meet to lodge their protest against Mr Gandhi’s remark.

Mr. Gandhi had said that “he was not Savarkar to apologise”. On Sunday, he made the statement at a press conference in response to a question on whether or not, he was ready to apologise for the comments in U.K. as the BJP has been demanding.

“Last night, there were 18 parties [at Khargeji’s residence] and today we are 19 parties together and that includes Shiv Sena,” Congress comunication chief Jairam Ramesh said when asked to comment on Sena’s discomfort over the Savarkar remark.

Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, who addressed a press conference along with Mr. Ramesh, added,“Whatever issue between the Congress and Shiv Sena has been sorted and our issue is Adani and there is no need to distract.”

Sources said a plan to convene a meeting of the top leaders of like-minded parties is also on the cards.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.