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Raut reiterates demand to make Pawar UPA chief; Sena can’t discuss matter, says Congress
Replying to Raut’s demand, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said UPA constituents have decided who should head the alliance
Shiv Sena parliamentarian and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut’s repeated statements about Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar be made the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has not gone down well with its Maharashtra alliance partner Congress.
Raut, however, dismissed speculations that Congress leaders are upset over his demand.
“The Congress leadership is not upset over the demand that Pawar should head UPA. In fact, we get such suggestions from within the Congress that UPA should be strengthened. It can be [current UPA chief] Sonia Gandhi’s stand as well. Gandhi has led UPA resolutely for a long time. But she has been unwell and there are [political] developments happening in the country. At such a time, several regional parties have demanded that UPA should be headed by a person outside the Congress,” Sena’s chief spokesperson said in New Delhi.
Replying to Raut’s demand, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said, “UPA constituents have decided who should head the alliance. I had asked the chief minister [Uddhav Thackeray] two days ago if he [Raut] is Pawar’s spokesperson. Our only advice is that they should not discuss things that are not related to them... Shiv Sena is not a member of UPA and one who isn’t a member, must not enter into this discussion. There is no question of being upset over it.”
Raut also said that several regional parties who are not a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or UPA should be taken under the aegis of UPA.
“It is not the question of how many MPs (Members of Parliament) are backing Pawar saheb. Almost all [political] parties besides BJP have demanded that UPA should be reconstituted and there should be a change in the leadership. It is not just our demand,” he said.
This is not the first occasion when Raut has called for the restructuring of UPA by making Pawar its head. In the past few months, Raut has spoken about it repeatedly.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant also said Shiv Sena does not have the right to make any such demands.
“They should first formally enter UPA, which is a national level alliance and has fought against NDA for several years now. We have come together to form government here [in Maharashtra] under extraordinary circumstances—to preserve democracy and oppose BJP,” Sawant told TV channels.
Meanwhile, NCP MP Supriya Sule met Gandhi, who is also the interim Congress president, in New Delhi on Thursday morning. There were speculations that the meeting was to discuss the Congress leadership’s unhappiness about the demand.
However, Raut dismissed any such speculation.
