NCP Was Born Purely out of Opposition to Sonia Gandhi’s Congress Leadership, Says Praful Patel

Nationalist Congress Party leader and Rajya Sabha member Praful Patel in an interview with Smita Prakash, editor-in-chief at Asian News International (ANI), said that the NCP didn’t come into existence in 1999 as part of any grand plan but as a platform for frustrated Congressmen. He recalled that when Sitaram Kesari stepped down, Sonia Gandhi was brought in as the head of the Congress. And during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Sharad Pawar was made the leader of the opposition.

“Being the leader of the opposition, whenever Sharad Pawar made recommendations to the Speaker, the whip of the party, PJ Kurien, used to go to the Speaker with notes from Sonia Gandhi, containing suggestions different from Pawar’s,” said Patel.

In the same interview, Patel also mentioned that many Congress leaders didn’t like this system where Sonia Gandhi’s team used to interfere. Hence, in 1999, the NCP was born for leaders who wanted to break away from the party, he added. Patel further stated, “In the initial years of Sonia Gandhi, her advisors tried to undermine Sharad. He is not the person whom the Gandhi family ever wanted to trust.”

On the question of who advised Sharad Pawar to float the party, Patel replied that during that time everyone was amplifying their frustration in the Congress party, leading to many secret meetings at the residences of PA Sangma, Sharad Pawar, Jitendra Prasada, and Rajesh Pilot.

“The NCP was supposed to be a platform for all the Congressmen who wanted to leave Congress at that time. NCP was born purely on the issue of opposing Sonia Gandhi’s leadership in the Congress party,” Patel emphasised. “When NCP was formed, leaders like PA Sangma, Tariq Anwar, Sharad Pawar, and Praful Patel all joined, but except Jitendra Prasad and Rajesh Pilot, they had cold feet because they believed that without the support of the Congress Party, they couldn’t win their own elections.”

He said that in 1991 after the assassination of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Narasimha Rao government came into existence. During that time, there was a chance for Sharad Pawar to take the mantle of the Congress and lead the party, but Sonia Gandhi’s then advisers made sure that wouldn’t happen, and Narasimha Rao was given the responsibility to lead. “When PV Narasimha Rao became the PM, he saw Pawar as a potential threat and made sure that he was sent back to Mumbai, and Pawar became chief minister in 1992-93,” added Patel.

Patel also said that Pawar missed out on the chance to become the Prime Minister after the then Congress chief Sitaram Kesari withdrew support from the Deve Gowda government. “Deve Gowda ji had called me to the PMO and requested that Sharad Pawar ji should help him for the next 15 days to come out of the issue and he would ensure that he would step down and propose his name as PM. This was the time the Congress parliamentary party was supporting him, and on the other side, Deve Gowda was also in his support. But till today, it’s a mystery to me too why didn’t he grab that opportunity. And later, IK Gujral got that opportunity.”

Regarding the 2019 Maharashtra coup, Patel stated that actually the NCP was to join hands with the BJP to form the government, as Uddhav was playing spoilsport. “We had an understanding with the BJP; that is why Ajit Pawar took that oath. We joined hands with the Shiv Sena, which is more radical than the BJP if we talk about Hindutva. This was the beginning which led to us parting ways,” said Patel in the interview.

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