Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday slammed the BJP, while senior NCP leader D.P. Tripathi welcomed JD(U)’s move to join “secular forces”. Referring to the letter written by seniormost BJP leader L.K. Advani, Mr Pawar said that the former had shown the true face of the BJP.
Addressing party workers at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre at Nariman Point, Mr Pawar said that though Mr Advani had withdrawn his resignation, the opinion expressed by him was still true and it showed the real picture of the BJP, which is supposed to provide an alternative to the ruling Congress at the Centre.
Mr Pawar also defended his decision about the reshuffle, which was held last week. He said, “The ministers dropped from the council of ministers in the reshuffle were not inefficient. It was the need of the party to make certain changes and induct some faces in the government in view of the upcoming polls.”
He made it clear that the ministers who were dropped from the ministry would also be given certain important responsibilities in the organisational set-up. On the sidelines of the appointment of NCP’s new state unit chief and working state unit chief, Mr Pawar urged the senior leaders to accept the young faces as their leaders.
“Our party has completed 14 years and I found it necessary to hand over the responsibility of leading the party to young leaders. Now the senior leaders should accept them as their leaders. It’s time to play an advisory role for them,” Mr Pawar said, indicating that senior leaders should accept the party’s mandate.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters, Mr Tripathi said, “We welcome JD(U)’s separation from BJP and joining secular forces.” When asked whether he meant the UPA or the “federal front” of secular forces, Mr Tripathi said, “Yes, I am talking about the UPA coalition only. We are part of the UPA and not with any other front.”