Not only that the BJP is actively trying to rope in newer allies into the NDA but is trying its best to solve Women wrestlers issue as meetings between the agitating wrestlers and Home Minister Amit Shah and then with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur suggest.
The BJP has reportedly sent feelers to JD (S) in Karnatka and Akali Dali in Punjab to join the NDA. Akali Dal had left the NDA in the wake of the famers’ agitation.
In short, the BJP is getting worried over its declining appeal to country’s electorate. It is true that the BJP has yet not decided with what issues if will go into elections. Whether communal polarization will help or the party should adopt a different approach is being discussed and debated in which some top RSS leaders are also involved.
Pawar, who is known to read political winds and predict political trends correctly, said: “If this mindset of people continues, the country will witness a change in the forthcoming elections”.
Addressing a press meet at Aurangabad in Maharashtra, the NCP supremeo decried that small incidents in Maharashtra were being given a “religious colour”, which was not a good sign.
In the background of the emerging political ground realities, Sharad Pawar said, “Looking at the scenario, I think there is an anti-BJP wave going on. Considering the Karnataka election results, people are in the mood for a change. If this mentality of people continues, there will a change in the country in the forthcoming elections. There is no need of any astrologer to tell this.”
Asked about the possibility that the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls may be held simultaneously, the NCP chief said many people from his party and allies are also of the same view.
But, I don’t think so. Considering the results of the Karnataka Assembly polls, I don’t think rulers of the country will fall into a mess of conducting the state Assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls. They will only focus on the Lok Sabha polls,” Pawar said.
Asked about the law and order situation and some incidents of violence in Maharashtra in the recent past, Pawar claimed “religious colour” was being given to some small issues in the state.
“The rulers are responsible to establish law and order in the state. If the ruling parties and their people come out on roads over it and create a rift between two religions, then it is not a good sign,” he said.
If a poster (of some person) is shown in Aurangabad, why there is a need for violence in Pune. But it is being made to happen, he claimed.
“Recently we heard about Ahmednagar. Today, I saw a news from Kolhapur. People came out on roads, and giving religious colour to a small incident of sending message over phone is not a good sign. The ruling parties are encouraging such things,” Pawar alleged.
Asked who is his favourite minister at the Centre in view of the Narendra Modi government having completed nine years, Pawar said, “There are some whose work is indisputable. For example, Nitin Gadkari. He doesn’t keep a party angle (in his work). If we take an issue to him, he checks its importance and not the person telling about it.”
Stressing the importance of dialogue in Parliament-related activities, Pawar said the decision on the new Parliament building could have been taken through talks with political parties.
There has been a general decline in engaging in dialogue for parliamentary activities, he said. Earlier too, he said, political parties had differences but they tried to resolve them through dialogue.
“I didn’t understand why there was a need for a new Parliament building. The decision about it could have been taken through dialogue (with political parties). But I learnt about the new building through newspapers,” he said.
As many as 20 Opposition parties stayed away from the inauguration of the new Parliament building which was done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28. The Congress accused the PM of treating the inauguration like a “coronation”.
Without naming anyone, Pawar said, “Key persons from the government do not regularly attend Parliament sessions. If the head of the government comes to Parliament someday, that day feels different. Parliament is above all. If importance is not given to it, people’s perception (of it) also gets impacted.”
Calling himself the leader of a “small” political party in Parliament, Pawar said, “We (opposition) demanded to invite the President for the inaugural ceremony of the new Parliament building. There was no need to oppose it (by ruling BJP). A photograph clicked after the first session of Parliament had many leaders of the country, including Dr B R Ambedkar and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” Pawar said.
The Opposition parties boycotted the event accusing the BJP-led Centre of sidelining President Droupadi Murmu. They insisted that the inauguration be done by President Murmu as she is the constitutional head of the country.
Pawar also alleged that the elected leaders didn’t get the chance to enter the new building first. He said, “The first photo of the new Parliament building that came out was not with the elected members but with people who were wearing saffron clothes.”
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