Praful Patel says Congress took down NCP along with it

Hinting at a strain in NCP-Congress relations, senior NCP leader Praful Patel has squarely blamed Congress and then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan for their debacle in the 2014 polls. He has claimed that the Congress sank, taking NCP down with it.

Mr Patel, who was addressing NCP workers at Akola on Monday, said, “In the last five years, it is only because of Congress that its workers and supporters, and along with it, NCP, have suffered.”

Speaking of the Congress-NCP alliance which ruled the state for 15 years, he alleged, “Scams were not really scams, but a conspiracy by Congress itself and leaders like Mr Chavan to defame us. They sank and they also took us down. But, we are not that weak. We will not drown. We know how to swim. We will come back with all our strength and we will prove that NCP is no less than anyone else.”

“We will stay cautious from now onward. We do not have to support Congress for each and everything. If people at the regional level consider it appropriate to maintain relations with the Congress, they can. As of now, we do not have a coalition with any party in Maharashtra or in the country,” said Mr Patel. The former aviation minister’s remarks come ahead of the crucial municipal elections in Maharashtra. The Asian Age tried to contact Mr Chavan via calls and text messages. However, there was no response from the latter to Mr Patel’s allegations.

Reacting to the attack, MPCC spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “Some people in NCP make such a statement because they want to keep (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi in good humour. Are they (NCP) making such statements because of fear that the BJP government will take action against their earlier misdeeds or is there any other reason ”

Meanwhile in Delhi, AICC spokesperson Manish Tiwari said that the party was ascertaining facts from the NCP leader and added that if it was a state-centric comment, the state party unit would respond to it.