Demoralised NCP has lost aggression: Congress

Mumbai: There are doubts as to whether or not the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will cooperate with the Congress on the floor of the House against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena government in the Winter Session of the state legislature, which is to be held at Nagpur from December 5. The Congress is planning to disrupt the House over the government’s demonetisation decision.

According to a Congress insider, the NCP is demoralised by the massive defeat it suffered in the state legislative council election as well as in the recently concluded municipal council polls. During a Congress core committee meeting held on Wednesday at Vidhan Bhavan, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said that he would speak with NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil. Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders kept their distance from the meeting.

In the meeting, issues that are to be focused on during the Winter Session were discussed. Mr Vikhe-Patil said that post-demonetisation chaos would be a priority for Congress during the session. “Farmers have suffered the most due to demonetisation as the Reserve Bank of India has banned district co-operative banks from accepting and allowing the exchange of old and defunct denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. We will raise this issue aggressively in both the Upper and Lower House during the session,” said vice-president Naseem Khan.

“There are several issues, including reservation for Muslims, Dhangars and Marathas; farmers issues and the involvement of BJP ministers in scams and we will not allow to conduct the business of the House over these issues,” said former minister Mr Khan.

“Meanwhile, senior party leaders, including former chief ministers Narayan Rane and Prithviraj Chavan, and Patangrao Kadam and Balasaheb Thorat were absent and hence the discussion was nothing but a primary one,” said one of the leaders who was present at the meeting on condition of anonymity.

The next core committee meeting will be held in Nagpur on Sunday. The Congress will also speak with NCP during the session to get their support to take on the BJP and Shiv Sena.

Another Congress leader claimed that NCP would not be aggressive against BJP and Shiv Sena as it is demoralised after its poor performance in the municipal council polls. “NCP has lost three of its sitting MLCs in the recently concluded poll, and, hence, we doubt it will be aggressive during the session,” said the leader, adding, “We hope it supports us in terms of floor management in the House. Meanwhile, both Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar were not available for comment.