Pawar rules out alliance with Akali Dal

MUMBAI On the eve of INDIA coalition’s two-day meet in the city, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar quelled rumours about any possibility of bringing Samyukta Akali Dal within the fold and also expressed doubts about the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joining the coalition. Pawar said, with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) already on board, the participating members would refrain from upsetting any alliance partner.

At the press meet, on Wednesday, Pawar also stressed on chalking out a common minimum programme (CMP) outlining the objectives of the coalition that will also help in avoiding clashes as there are many parties with different ideologies who are part of the combine. The press meet was also attended by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress leaders. Together, the leaders laid out the agenda for the two-day meet beginning on Thursday.

After ruling out an alliance with Akali Dal, Pawar added that there were “no talks with Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)” either to join the bloc. He however confirmed that the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) head Badruddin Ajmal was in touch with him and was keen to join the opposition coalition. “But I cannot take the decision on my own. I have to discuss this with Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) as well,” the NCP chief informed. He made the statement in response to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) earlier statement that the coalition will not last given the many participating partners with varied ideologies.

Pawar underscored, 63 representatives from 28 political parties will attend the two-day gathering, which will start with an informal meeting and a dinner, on Thursday where the INDIA agenda will be discussed. It will be finalised in the meeting on Friday afternoon.

Pawar confirmed talks about seat sharing are also on the table “if there is a unanimity” in the decision among parties. “Some people can then be given the responsibility to start a dialogue with other parties and study how we could go together,” he said.

Uddhav Thackeray slammed the BJP-led government and compared it to the British-rule of the pre-Independence period, “where despite development, people were not free”. “Like the Quit India movement, a call to throw out BJP will be given now. The government is doing what the British did in the past. We want freedom with development,” said Thackeray. “We may have different ideologies, but we have the same goal. We will not allow our mother India to remain in chains by another tyrannical dictator. We have many options for the PM’s post.”

Referencing the BJP loss in the Karnataka election and taking pot shots at BJP, Thackeray said the party was scared of the INDIA alliance and “running out of gas” and hence prices of cooking gas were reduced. “I won’t be surprised if they announce free gas in future.” He said for the last nine years the prime minister “did not remember his sisters; and now as the opposition parties have come together, he has remembered them”. The Modi government declared reduction in the price of cooking gas by ₹200 as a gift to sisters on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.