Pawar's attending Third Front rally irks Congress

Congress on Thursday expressed its displeasure over NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s plan to attend a rally of the Third Front in Bhubaneswar on Friday and said it would be better if he does not share the dais with parties “opposed to Congress”.

Congress on Thursday expressed its displeasure over NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s plan to attend a rally of the Third Front in Bhubaneswar on Friday and said it would be better if he does not share the dais with parties “opposed to Congress”.

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Party leader and Home Minister P Chidambaram appealed to Pawar to desist from the move but NCP remained firm on its participation in the rally, saying “we wanted, want and will continue to want that all secular forces in the country should be together”.

At the AICC briefing, Chidambaram asked “why should we be amused” by Pawar’s action?“ Noting that NCP has alliance with Congress in Maharashtra and is planning to have an alliance in Gujarat but no alliance in Orissa, Chidambaram said “it wil be good if he does not share the platform with parties in Third Front which are opposed to Congress”.

NCP spokesman D P Tripathi said from Bhubaneswar that there was no question of the party being apologetic about its participation in the rally.