NAGPUR: A series of sarcastic political repartees between Congress and its ally NCP continued on Monday with cabinet minister Vijay Wadettiwar saying the merger of both parties will be beneficial at many levels.
Wadettiwar was speaking in support of party colleague Balasaheb Thorat’s statement that parties which share similar democratic values must come under the Congress’ fold.
It all started last week when Sharad Pawar said that Congress was behaving like the erstwhile zamindars who had lost all ancestral land but refused to accept it. Soon Nana Patole, the state Congress unit chief who’s never short of words in a political pow-wow, gave it back in kind to Pawar.
The Sakoli MLA said that Congress’ land has been stolen by caretakers, a clear swipe at Pawar’s breaking away from the grand old party.
The eternally mild-mannered revenue minister Thorat was an unlikely addition to this war-of-words, when he offered some unsolicited political advice to the senior Pawar.
While maintaining his trademark soft-toned approach, Thorat poked Pawar back by saying that secular parties must come under the Congress’ umbrella. By asking others to merge with the Congress, Thorat left no doubt what he thought of ‘other parties’ political strature.
On Monday, senior Congress leader and cabinet minister Vijay Wadettiwar too joined in the political slug-fest. Known as a firebrand and aggressive politician, Wadettiwar too took a swipe saying “I fully support Balasaheb’s (Thorat) view. NCP has emerged out of Congress ideology, so it makes complete sense for them to merge.”
The seasoned politician that he is, Wadettiwar knew perfectly well on how to soften the blow as well. “In fact I think that all like-minded political parties must unite to fight the BJP and ensure that democratic values are upheld. So there’s no point in hurting each other and taking positions on either side of the fence. It will be more beneficial if they (NCP) join us and together we can increase the party’s strength and base,” said Wadettiwar.
