Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar questioned his uncle Sharad Pawar's decision to ally with the Congress within a few months after raising the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins.
Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against Pawar senior last year and split the Nationalist Congress Party, asked why he was being criticised for joining hands with the BJP when his uncle had allied with the Shiv Sena two years ago.
"In 1999, a school of thought emerged (within Congress) that a foreign-origin person should not be India's Prime Minister. Senior leaders like Pawar sahab (Sharad Pawar), PA Sangma, and Tariq Anwar took this stand. We were young, and we also supported that stand. In June 1999, the NCP was formed (after Sharad Pawar was expelled from the Congress), and in October 1999, we joined Vilasrao Deshmukh's government in the state," he said.
"Not even six months had passed. What happened to the issue of foreign origin? If Sonia Gandhi, being a foreign-origin person, was Congress president, why was the decision to go with Congress taken?" Ajit Pawar said.
He also said that there could have been an NCP Chief Minister after the party allied with the Congress in 1999, but the NCP leadership did not claim the post.
"(Chhagan) Bhujbal, RR Patil, or any other leader from the NCP should have been given the opportunity (to become the Chief Minister)," he said.
When the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress fell in June 2022, everyone in the NCP decided to join hands with the BJP, Ajit Pawar further claimed.
"Going with the Sena is acceptable, then why not going with the BJP? If senior leaders take a decision, it is seen as the right decision. But when we take a decision, it is perceived to be wrong," he added.
Referring to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ruling out alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections in their respective states, Ajit Pawar said this situation shows that there was no alternative to Narendra Modi.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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