BJP was plotting ways to weaken Shiv Sena, says Sharad Pawar; backs 'wise decision' of Nitish Kumar
While talking to reporters, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the BJP was planning to weaken the Shiv Sena and create divisions within the party.
FollowNationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of gradually finishing off its regional allies and backed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to break ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While talking to reporters in Baramati, Maharashtra's Pune district, Pawar said that the BJP was plotting ways to weaken the Shiv Sena and create divisions within the party.
Pawar's party (NCP) was a constituent of the previous Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government, which collapsed in June of this year after a revolt led by Sena MLA Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators.
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on his party's agreement with the saffron party on Tuesday and resigned. He then staked a claim to form a new government with the support of the opposition Grand Alliance.
Notably, BJP national president J P Nadda recently stated that in the future, only ideology-driven parties such as the BJP will survive, while those ruled by families will perish.
Pawar asserted, "The BJP national president recently said that the regional parties don't have a future and won't exist; he claimed that the only party that will endure in the nation is theirs."
The NCP president said, "From this speech, one thing is evident, which was also Nitish Kumar's issue, that the BJP gradually finishes off its allies."
While explaining his statement, Pawar gave Akali Dal's example. Pawar said, "Prakash Singh Badal, the party's head, was with them, but the party is nearly finished in Punjab today."
He stressed that the Shiv Sena and the BJP had worked together in Maharashtra for many years.
"Today, the BJP is planning how to weaken the Shiv Sena by creating division within the party, and (current Maharashtra Chief Minister) Eknath Shinde and others aided," he added.
In doing so, Pawar claimed, the Shiv Sena was attacked by a party that was once an ally.
In Bihar, a similar picture was seen. He claimed Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) and the BJP contested together in the last Assembly elections.
Another speciality of the BJP is that it joins hands with a regional party during elections while ensuring that the ally wins fewer seats. It also happened in Maharashtra, as per Pawar.
When a similar picture was seen in Bihar, the state's Chief Minister became cautious and decided to cut ties with the BJP, he explained.
Following Pawar, regardless of how much BJP leaders criticise Nitish Kumar, he has made a wise decision. Kumar made the decision anticipating the crisis that the BJP was planning to cause. "I believe he made the right decision for his state and party," Pawar concluded.Â
(With inputs from PTI)
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