Key points:
- Terming the opposition at the Centre and Congress “weak and ineffective,” Shiv Sena on Saturday.
- Praising Pawar, the editorial said, “Pawar is an independent and powerful personality… and every party, including PM Modi, draws the benefit of his experience.”
The Sena mouthpiece Saamna, while criticising BJP’s alleged indifference to the farmers’ protest, said it was disregarding the opposition because it was powerless and tumbled down. Saamna stated that a morcha had been organised on Thursday under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership in support of agitating farmers, but Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said even people within Congress did not take Rahul seriously.
Terming the opposition at the Centre and Congress “weak and ineffective,” Shiv Sena on Saturday suggested that all anti-BJP parties should unite under the banner of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to offer a formidable alternative to the Modi government and indirectly suggested that NCP chief Sharad Pawar was best equipped to lead the opposition combine.
“An ineffective opposition is leading to the disintegration of democracy. Instead of blaming the government, the opposition party should introspect. There has to be a mass appeal to the opposition’s leadership Rahul Gandhi individually is putting up a strong fight, but something is lacking.Even parties which are a part of UPA might not have taken the farmers’ protest seriously,” the paper said.
Stating that “the Congress Working Committee should discuss why BJP dares to make fun of the party’s leadership”, Saamna noted the UPA “does not have a strong leader like Narendra Modi and a political manager like Amit Shah”. It said “the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, BSP, Akhilesh Yadav’s SP, Jaganmohan Reddy’s
YSR Congress, K Chandrasekhar Rao from Telangana, Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, Karnataka’s H D Kumaraswamy are all against BJP, but they are not part of the Congress-led UPA. Unless all these parties unite against BJP, the opposition cannot provide a formidable alternative”.
Praising Pawar, the editorial said, “Pawar is an independent and powerful personality… and every party, including PM Modi, draws the benefit of his experience.” Saamna pointed out that “Mamata Banerjee is waging a lone battle in West Bengal. BJP is trying to split her party. The opposition parties unitedly need to stand with her”.
Though top state Congress leaders were not available for comment, former Congress state minister Naseem Khan said, “Shiv Sena should keep in mind that it is not part of the UPA. They have no right to advise Congress. Congress has extended support to Sena in the state on the basis of the common minimum programme.”
