NCP stand on Belgaum leaves Cong stumped
Maharashtar-Karnataka boundry dispute is being utilised by the NCP to put the Congress and its Union ministers in a difficult situation. The Sharad Pawar-led party on Friday came out openly in favour of inclusion of disputed boundary areas in Maharashrtra.
“Belgaum must come to Maharashtra... it is a Marathi speaking area,” the NCP general secretary D.P. Tripathi said here on Friday.
Answering to questions whether the NCP ministers at the Centre should resign following the Centre’s rejection to the Maharashtra’s claim on Belgaum and Gulberga districts in Karnataka, he shot back and asked why the ministers should resign.
They would continue to fight the issue by remaining in the Cabinet, Mr Mr Tripathi said.
The number of Union ministers from Maharashtra are nine. They are : Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh (all former chief ministers), Mr Murli Deora, Mr Mukul Wasnik, Mr Praful Patel, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, Mr Gurudas Kamat and Mr Pratik Patil.
While Mr Pawar had led the agitation on inclusion of disputed boundary areas in Maharashrtra when he was the Opposition leader in the state, the NCP ministers in Maharashtra are not shying away for raising this issue.
But the Maharashtra Congress leaders at the Centre appear to be not as keen as the NCP on this issue.
Even the Congress MPs from Maharashtra had remained silent when the Shiv Sena embers had raised this issue in Parliament earlier.
The former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Gopinath Munde is now the deputy leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha. It will be interesting to see whether he would raise this issue on the floor during the Monsoon Session of parliament beginning from July 26. The BJP is ruling Karnataka.
Post new comment