War of words between NCP and Sena, alliance to continue

NEW DELHI: This week, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena were embroiled in a war of words after NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s autobiography had mentioned that his alliance partner and then chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) gave up the chair without putting up a fight.
However, leaders from the Uddhav-led Sena claim that “not letting NCP, pointing out our weak leadership, to go without response would have led to a perception of weak party” and thus giving adequate response was the need of hour to keep the spirits in the party afloat and not to let the alliance partner (NCP) make our cadre doubt our leadership. An NCP leader said, “There is a deep understanding between the top leadership that whatever the differences, the alliance must stay.”
But there is an underlying problem with the alliance. Many believe when the seats-sharing formula is declared and seats are distributed, there is less possibility that all the candidates who are expecting tickets would be appeased and thus many would rebel and damage the MVA alliance on several seats. A Congress leader pointed out that there are a few seats where atleast two parties have strong candidates, but the ticket would be given only to one, and this may create trouble for the alliance, and lead to a conflict of interest between the alliance leaders. However, the top leaders have tried their best to keep every little dissatisfaction in control.
The party leaders also believe that to keep up with the alliance is very tough, but to go it alone in the electoral contest is even tougher. “If we contest the coming elections alone, we will end up cutting each other’s votes and let the BJP win big. Thereby, every party has invariably understood that standing together is the right thing to keep our parties alive and keep its prospects intact.”
The party mouthpiece of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Saamana, had criticised the party’s key ally Sharad Pawar after the maratha strongman had said that Uddhav gave up without putting up a fight, saying that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president failed to groom a successor who could take the party forward.
“There is no doubt that Pawar is a big leader on the national platform and his word has respect in national politics. However, he has failed to create a successor who can take his party forward. And that is the reason why his party was rattled when he decided to resign as the president. Every party worker was worried about his fate,” the paper said in the editorial.