Cong-NCP stand-off ends; Coordination Committee to be set up
The stand-off between Congress and NCP came to an end on Wednesday with the decision to set up a Coordination Committee to address the grievance of the UPA ally from Maharashtra about not having a proper say in the functioning of the government.
The differences, that made NCP to threaten pull out of the government, were resolved at a meeting the party's chief Sharad Pawar had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi here on Wednesday evening.
Pawar, Agriculture Minister who was accompanied by senior party colleague and Union Minister Praful Patel, raised the issues of lack of coordination within the UPA and non-involvement of allies in decision-making.
After the over hour-long meeting, Patel said there was emphasis on good coordination in the UPA government in Delhi and in Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra so that a 'positive face' of the coalition is shown to the people.
"Whatever (controversies) happened during last few days has come to an end," Patel told reporters.
A statement issued after the meeting said an effective coordination mechanism would be set up under which allies would meet once a month to decide on policy and other issues.
A Coordination Committee would be set up in Delhi which will be headed by Gandhi, Patel said.
A similar committee would be set up in Maharashtra, where the two parties have a coalition government, and it will include Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and representatives from the central leadership of the two parties, he said.
Patel said NCP would continue to be part of UPA till 2014.
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