Rahul Gandhi’s comment today served to further complicate matters as two top allies in the Maharashtra coalition denied talk of a rift spurred by a series of meetings. The Congress leader was seen to distance himself from reports of a rift between his party’s Maharashtra allies – Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
“I would like to make a differentiation here. We are supporting the government in Maharashtra, but we are not the key decision maker in Maharashtra. We are decision-makers in Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Puducherry. There is a difference between running the government and supporting it,” Mr Gandhi said in response to media questions on Maharashtra’s coronavirus crisis and possible disagreements within the ruling alliance on tackling it.
“I said very categorically that Maharashtra is an important state, Mumbai is the financial capital and there is a lot of attention, they have a difficult situation and lots of attention needs to be given to the state by the centre,” said the Congress MP.
The Congress insisted that their leader’s comments had been twisted out of context, but the clarification did little to tamp down coalition crisis rumours that the NCP and Shiv Sena had forcefully denied just hours ago.
In an attempt to paper over the cracks and project a united front, Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, an NCP MP, said Mr Gandhi was “absolutely right”.
“I’ve heard what Rahul Gandhi said. He’s absolutely right. It’s a coalition. Everyone takes a decision together. Uddhav Thackeray takes everyone into confidence. I’ve seen him first hand, he takes everyone along,” she said, her comments also a subtle reminder that all three parties – Sena, NCP and Congress – had equal say in the coalition.
Ms Sule was more conciliatory than her colleague Majeed Memon, who said: “It’s not right to say Congress is not part of the decision making process. Congress members are part of the Cabinet. They are not providing support from outside. They are in the cabinet and sign off on decisions made by the Maharashtra Government, which includes the Congress party.”
The BJP, accused by the ruling parties of stirring trouble in its desperation to return to power, seized the former Congress chief’s comments. “The statement of mistrust between two alliance partners by Rahul Gandhi is a bad joke with the people of Maharashtra,” said BJP leader Shaina NC.