Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was afraid of Rahul Gandhi’s popularity and the questions he raised on the Adani issue, and that was the reason why the PM did not want him in Parliament.
Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member on March 24, a day after he was convicted by a court in Gujarat’s Surat in a criminal defamation case.
Terming the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra as unholy, Chavan said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an alliance of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, was determined to defeat the Shinde-led dispensation in the next Assembly elections scheduled in 2024.
Former Maharashtra chief minister maintained that all was well in the MVA, and added that it would fight the future elections as a united force. He also said there was nothing to speculate on who would lead the opposition alliance as all partners were equal.
Replying to a query whether Gandhi’s disqualification will lead to the opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Chavan, who represents the Karad South Assembly constituency in Maharashtra, said opposition parties were coming together as draconian laws were misused.
If it can happen to the leader of the largest opposition party, it can happen to every political leader. Unless we fight this menace unitedly, there will be no democracy and opposition left. Hope the unity goes up to 2024. We will work on friendly allocation of seats. We will try to have one party from the opposition bloc putting up its candidate against a BJP nominee, he added.
To a question on whether the MVA unity was just on paper given the buzz about Uddhav Thackeray getting special treatment at the MVA’s recent joint rally, absence of Congress leaders there and reports of the lack of enthusiasm from the grand old party, Chavan said as per the understanding among the three partners, each rally will be helmed by one party.
Protocol-wise, Uddhav Thackeray being the former chief minister enjoyed a higher protocol than other people during the Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) rally. It was decided that two leaders from each party will speak (at every rally). It was a conscious decision of not having too many leaders on the stage. Different leaders will address different rallies in different parts of the state, he said.