The IPL controversy is unlikely to affect the political constituency of the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, view the state Congress officials. “He is a political leader and people in Maharashtra know that he is resourceful. They have accepted him,” they said.
Asked whether the controversy would damage Mr Pawar and his party either in the coming BMC elections or the local body polls, an official of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee viewed the issue may not survive so long.
“Yes, people are watching TV channels, reading stories about the controversy in newspapers. But beyond that it has not spoiled either Pawar or his party. At least, this is the feedback as of today,” the official who does not want to be quoted , said on Sunday.
Opposition parties, especially the BJP and the Marxists are making Mr Pawar the main target of their attack on this controversy. They are demanding his resignation from the Union Cabinet and a “full-fledged” probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the matter. On the other hand, the Congress party has been distancing itself from the controversy deliberately.
But Mr Pawar, who has been in parliamentary politics for more than four decades, is unlikely to be demolished on the issue of “propriety”, Maharashtra leaders felt. They said there cannot be any comparison between Mr Pawar and Mr Shashi Tharoor. “Pawar is the face of the Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra which has retained power for the third time continuously since 1999,” they pointed out.
The BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde, had earlier launched a campaign against Mr Pawar before 1995 state Assembly polls. But that did not give a clear majority to the Shiv Sena-BJP combine. It came to power with the help of a large number of rebel Congress MLAs.
Meanwhile, the Congress maintained that the Union agriculture minister will have to fend for himself. “The Congress party’s stand is the same. These are the nitty-gritty details about which you will have to ask the NCP. A general inquiry into the matter is already on,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said while answering a question about reports that the company, in which Pawar and his family members have direct share-holding bid for an IPL team on its own behalf.