The first salvo has been fired by Sharad Pawar’s NCP with its MP Amol Kolhe while addressing party workers on Thursday, lamented the state of the Opposition. “The Thackeray Sena is not ready to wake up from its slumber and Congress is not willing to straighten its spine which has been bent… We (still) have Sharad Pawar to lead the fight… the Opposition space is there for the taking and if we survive, then we can fight more (strongly).” Kolhe’s comments come in the backdrop of the leadership in the Sharad Pawar camp claiming that there is a drift among the Opposition alliance in the state as there has been no stock-taking exercise after the assembly poll debacle.
The Shirur MP’s comments have led to the Congress and UBT Sena going all out at each other and even questioning whether the INDIA bloc was sustainable anymore. “Kolhe should concentrate on his own party and advise us less. The defeat in the assembly polls was primarily due to the seat-sharing discussions that took 20 days. If we had wrapped up the talks in two days, then we could have campaigned in the state for the next 18 days,” said Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar.
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut of UBT Sena also came out with guns blazing at both Congress and NCP (SP). “There was an imbroglio because one party wanted more seats as they wanted to claim the CM’s post. If they (Congress) had left more seats for allies, then it would have been better. They lost all the seats that we wanted to contest on,” said Raut.
