Backstabber Pawar can’t be our guru; MVA an adjustment for power: Shiv Sena leader

Senior Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete attacked Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar and stated that the party chief who backstabbed the Congress cannot be their “guru”.

Ahead of the local body polls in Raigad district early next year, differences among the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners have emerged as senior Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete attacked Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar and stated that the party chief who backstabbed the Congress cannot be their “guru”. In an embarrassment to the Sena, Geete further said that MVA was an “adjustment” for power. However, the party has downplayed the statement and said Pawar was a national leader and Geete’s statement reflected his personal opinion.

In an embarrassment to the Sena, Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete further said that MVA was an “adjustment” for power (Hindustan Times)

Raigad gram panchayat is scheduled to go to polls in February, and Geete, who was elected as the Lok Sabha member for six terms, has not been in good terms with NCP’s local unit in the district.

Geete has served as a Union minister for heavy industries in the Narendra Modi government between 2014 and 2019. In the 2019 general elections, Geete was defeated by NCP’s Sunil Tatkare from Raigad.

“NCP was formed after backstabbing Congress. No matter how many titles the world may give him (Pawar), he cannot be our guru. Our guru is only (late Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray. MVA is merely an adjustment for power,” said Geete, while speaking at a party function in Raigad on Monday.

Pawar had formed NCP in June 1999 along with PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar after they were expelled from the Congress for raising questions on Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s nationality to lead the party.

Geete further stated that Sena needed to focus on keeping power at the local level in areas where it is traditionally strong.

“As long as this government is functioning, it will go on. If we part ways, our home is Shiv Sena. And we will have to stick with our party and need to strengthen our party. We don’t need to think about the Aghadi (alliance). That the party leadership will handle, but [we] need to think of retaining power in local bodies in our areas. The senior leaders of the party will take a call on what should be done at the state level,” Geete added.

Sena leader Sanjay Raut, while speaking to the reporters in Delhi, on the issue said. “Pawar is a national leader, and at this moment, we are together in the government, which is functioning properly… He (Geete) is not connected with the government; some leaders may have personal opinions.”

Political observers feel Geete is trying to revive his political significance in the party. Geete, who is close to the Thackerays, aims to gain lost ground in the local polls.

Reacting to Geete’s statement, Tatkare said, “The statement seems to have come out of frustration. It does not matter what he says, as it is akin to spitting on the sun. Pawar saheb is a national leader and the creator MVA. [Chief minister] Uddhav ji has been steering the alliance ably.”

Tatkare further said, “Don’t know where he (Geete) was for two years after he was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha. I was a witness when he had humbly touched Pawar saheb’s feet and expressed gratitude for the alliance after Uddhav ji was elected as the leader of the Assembly at a hotel in Bandra area.”

Even though the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress had come together in November 2019 after the fallout between Sena and BJP, party workers at the local level continue to have differences in many districts. The elections to 10 municipal corporations and 25 zilla parishads, which are considered a ‘Mini Assembly, are expected to be held early next year. The local polls will be a test for the relatively new political alliance in the state.

Geete, in his speech on Monday, had also said that the Congress and NCP do not see eye to eye and that Sena cannot be of the same ideology.

“Congress is also Congress and NCP is also Congress. But were relations between Congress and NCP cordial? Do they have the same ideology? If the Congress and NCP can’t become one, then Shiv Sena will never toe the Congress’s ideology,” Geete added.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole backed Geete’s partial remarks. Patole said the Congress feels that MVA is not a natural alliance.

“We agree to what he said about the alliance. It is not a natural alliance but the three parties have come together in a certain political condition. Our leader Soniaji Gandhi had clarified when MVA government was formed that we joined the alliance to keep BJP out of power. The leadership had also said that the three parties were coming together to serve the interests of the people,” he said.

Patole, however, said that he does not agree with Geete’s statement on Pawar.