The Maharashtra-based party, in an editorial of its mouthpiece Saamana, indirectly advocated handing over the leadership of UPA to Sharad Pawar.
Shiv Sena on Saturday, amid raging protests against the Centre’s new farm laws, slammed its ally Congress and said that the Opposition under Congress is unable to give the edge to the farmers’ agitation.
The Maharashtra-based party, in an editorial of its mouthpiece Saamana, indirectly advocated handing over the leadership of UPA to Sharad Pawar. Questions have also been raised on the leadership capability of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The Sena also slammed the Narendra Modi government saying that it is working against democracy.
Unless all the anti-BJP leaders are involved in the UPA, the opposition will remain ineffective in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the editorial said. “Priyanka Gandhi is detained in the national capital, they make fun of Rahul Gandhi and they don’t allow Maharashtra government to work. It is against democracy,” it added.
“Farmers are protesting on the national capital borders. But the rulers in Delhi are completely indifferent towards this agitation. The disintegrated and feeble opposition party is the main reason behind the government’s indifference. Ineffective opposition is leading to this disintegration of democracy,” it said.
“Instead of blaming the government, the opposition party should introspect. There has to be a mass appeal to the opposition leadership. But on this front, that party is standing on the brink,” Shiv Sena said.
“Rahul Gandhi individually is putting up a strong fight, but something is lacking…The present condition of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is like an NG0. Even the UPA constituents do not seem to have taken the farmers’ protest seriously. There is no clarity about what these constituents exactly do,” the editorial said.
“NCP chief Sharad Pawar is an independent personality at the national level. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is waging a lonely battle. The country’s opposition party should stand by her at this time. Mamata Banerjee has contacted only Pawar and he is going to Bengal. But this should have been done under the leadership of the Congress,” it further added.
“Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Akhilesh Yadav, Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, K Chandrasekhar Rao from Telangana, Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, Karnataka’s H D Kumaraswamy are all against the BJP, but they are not part of the Congress-led UPA. Unless all of them join the UPA, the opposition cannot provide a formidable alternative,” the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena said.
The Saamana editorial also pointed out that the onus of ensuring that the situation does not deteriorate further is on the Congress party.
“Senior Congress leaders like Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora are no more. There is no clarity on who will lead the Congress and what the future of the UPA is. Just like there is no party other than the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), there is no one else in the UPA. But the BJP is in complete power and they have powerful leadership in Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The UPA has none,” it said.
“Alarm bells are ringing that if the Congress does not give a serious thought to these issues, then future looks difficult for everyone,” it further added.
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