There is a line of people leaving the party in the Congress. Meanwhile, the stand of the main ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar regarding the Gautam Adani case is becoming a big problem for the Congress.
The Congress, which has run the government in alliance with the NCP in Maharashtra, is facing a big dilemma when the pages of Sharad Pawar's autobiography 'Lok Majhe Sangati', which came out in the year 2015, are now being turned.
In his autobiography, NCP leader has praised Sharad Pawar fiercely. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Sharad Pawar seems to be the biggest obstacle for the Congress, which is preparing to make the alleged relationship between industrialist Gautam Adani and the central government an issue.
Sharad Pawar said in an interview recently that an industrial group was targeted. Pawar also said that the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry into the matter is futile.
This statement of Sharad Pawar came at a time when 19 opposition parties in the House were fiercely raising the Adani issue. Allegations of corruption were also being leveled against the Modi government on behalf of all these opposition parties. Presently NCP is a major party in the opposition. Sharad is a big leader of the party. In such a situation, his statement raised many questions.
Pawar and Adani's friendship is old
Pawar's friendship with Gautam Adani is not new. This friendship is two decades old. He has also mentioned this in his autobiography 'Lok Majhe Sangati' published in Marathi language in the year 2015. Sharad has praised Adani a lot in this book. Due to Sharad Pawar's statement, this book has become a topic of discussion in political circles.
Sharad describes Adani as hardworking, simple, "down to earth" and someone with ambitions to make it big in the infrastructure sector. Pawar has also written that it was on his insistence that Adani ventured into the thermal energy sector.
How Sharad told Adani in his book
In his book, Sharad Pawar has talked about Adani's foray into the coal sector and on his (Pawar's) suggestion, the businessman should venture into the thermal energy sector. Pawar was the Union Agriculture Minister at that time.
According to Sharad's book, it was Pawar who suggested Adani to enter the coal sector. Adani set up a 3,000 MW thermal power plant. In the book, Sharad recounts how during his decades-long political career, he developed close ties with several industrialists for development in Maharashtra.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he was in regular touch with industrialists who could meet him on any day between 2 pm and 4 pm without prior appointment.
Mention of unheard stories of Pawar and Adani
Sharad Pawar wrote in his book how Adani tried his hand at small enterprises before trying his luck in the diamond industry. Pawar wrote that Gautam was earning well in diamond but Gautam was interested in basic business.
At that time Adani's friendship was good with Chimanbhai Patel, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He presented a proposal for the development of a port in Mundra. The port is close to Pakistan border and it is a dry place. According to Pawar, Adani accepted the challenge despite the adverse circumstances.
Congress is shaken even before Sharad's statement
There has already been a lot of controversy over the statement of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. In his statement, Sharad has termed the targeting of an industrial group as wrong. Pawar had called the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry in this matter futile.
On behalf of the Congress, Jairam Ramesh issued a statement saying that the NCP may have a stand of its own, but 19 opposition parties believe that the Adani issue is serious.
I also want to make it clear that NCP and other opposition parties are standing with us, together we all want to save democracy and defeat BJP's divisive politics.
Jairam Ramesh may have given this statement, but Congress knows very well that Adani issue has been raised by Rahul Gandhi and this issue is very close to Congress.
Congress is constantly getting headache after Rahul's membership
As the Lok Sabha elections approach, the headache of the Congress has also increased. One after the other many leaders have left the Congress. The latest example of this is the joining of Anil Antony, son of senior leader AK Antony, in the BJP. After this, former CM of Andhra Pradesh Kiran Reddy also joined the ruling party. In the last 9 years, 23 big leaders have left the Congress.
These include the names of Jagdambika Pal, Himanta Biswa Sarma, SS Krishna, Shankar Singh Vaghela, ND Tiwari, Kapil Sibbal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, besides Alpesh Thakur, Ajit Jogi and Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Vijay Bahuguna, Ashok Chowdhary, Narayan Rane.
Mention of Adani in Sharad Pawar's book is a big blow for Congress
Sharad Pawar is an important link of opposition unity. Both the parties are together in Maharashtra, in such a situation Congress would definitely like Sharad Pawar to join them. On the one hand where Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified, he needs allies. At such a time, Pawar's recent statement and his book have created a stir in the political circles. Speculation has started in Maharashtra as to what the NCP chief is going to do next.
Even though Sharad has written this book in 2015, but now after his statement, the way Adani has been mentioned in this book, there has been speculation in the political circles whether this is a prelude to BJP and NCP coming together. signal.
In 1999 also a similar comment came from Sharad Pawar. During that time NCP was forming after breaking away from Congress. The NCP contested the state elections against the Congress in 1999, but joined hands with the Congress in the same year. After that, he remained a partner with the Congress for 15 years in a period of ups and downs. Pawar was a senior minister in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
The Modi wave came in 2014, after a few months after the formation of the BJP government at the Centre, the NCP did not form an alliance with the Congress for the Maharashtra assembly elections. In this, both the parties were fighting separate elections like the other two main fronts, Shiv Sena and BJP. BJP became the largest party in this election but was 22 seats away from majority.
Sharad Pawar again surprised everyone and announced to support BJP from outside. In a way, it was because of Pawar that Devendra Fadnavis got the chance to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Five years later, in the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP lost its majority and Pawar started wooing BJP's ally Shiv Sena. At that time, BJP had turned down Uddhav Thackeray's desire to become the chief minister. The reason was Pawar, who forged an alliance with Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress to form the MVA government. Even after this many dramatic events happened. In which Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar was also sworn in early in the morning along with Devendra Fadnavis.
Interestingly, Pawar had once left the Congress instead of Sonia Gandhi. But later Pawar accepted Sonia Gandhi as a leader for his own interest.
Left the Congress in 1999 on the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. Sharad along with Tariq Anwar and PA Sangma formed his own party Nationalist Congress Party. However, in the same year Sharad also formed his own government in Maharashtra with the help of Congress. Sharad Pawar had also rebelled against Indira Gandhi in 1978 when Sharad was 27 years old.
No comments:
Post a Comment