scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomePoliticsNCP leader Tariq Anwar resigns, cites Sharad Pawar’s remarks on Rafale and...

NCP leader Tariq Anwar resigns, cites Sharad Pawar’s remarks on Rafale and Modi as trigger

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Tariq Anwar, who formed NCP along with Sharad Pawar and P.A. Sangma, says party chief’s statements have given NDA a new lease of life.

New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general secretary Tariq Anwar, who is also an MP from Katihar in Bihar, has resigned from the party.

Anwar told ThePrint that he will also quit from the Lok Sabha.

“I will resign as an MP in the coming days,” said Anwar, who has sent his resignation letter to party president Sharad Pawar.

Anwar also said his decision had been prompted by Pawar’s recent remarks to a Marathi news channel, in which the NCP chief said that people “do not have doubts” about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intentions in the Rafale deal.

“When the entire opposition is united and is exposing the BJP and the PM on the corruption in the Rafale deal, Pawar Sahab’s statement has given a new lease of life to the NDA government,” Anwar said.


Also read: In run-up to 2019, Sharad Pawar wants to be the conductor for opposition harmony


“I had raised objections in the past too — like in 2014, when NCP had decided to offer unconditional support to the BJP in Maharashtra after the assembly elections,” he said.

Anwar is currently silent about joining any party but considering his old affiliation, he is most likely to join the Congress.

“I am currently in Katihar and will discuss with my supporters before making any further move,” he told ThePrint over the phone from Katihar.

A founding NCP member

Anwar was one of the founder members of the NCP. In 1999, Anwar, along with Pawar and P.A. Sangma, had quit the Congress to form the NCP in protest against Sonia Gandhi becoming the party president. They had objected to a person of foreign origin becoming the Congress president.

The troika broke when Sangma left the NCP in 2012.

Much before that in June 2009, Sangma had apologised to Sonia Gandhi.

Anwar too has backtracked from his earlier stance.  In December last year, when Rahul Gandhi took over from Sonia Gandhi as party president, Anwar had said that his apprehensions about Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin were proven wrong as she had worked hard for the party.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

4 COMMENTS

  1. Mr. Conjecture, did you study psychology? Why are so many people worshipping a dynasty (or shall I say dynasties across the country) and cannot think of democratic alternatives?

    • Dear Vikram, what you call dynastic is merely HERO worship, which is ingrained in the very depths of Hindu psychology. By giving our gods a human face, we start associating some human faces with the word ‘god’. Without realizing it consciously, and not ACTUALLY worshipping that face, but by NOT ASKING QUESTIONS from, or about that face. Otherwise, when we talk of cinema and acting, where would names like Amitabh Bachhan and Rajnikant be?

      I know you are talking about the Gandhi family. Jawahar Lal and Indira Gandhi, two of that family did inspire “non questioning” type of faithfulness among the masses. The others have merely benefitted from the “hangup” of that non-questioning following. Well, Rajiv G actually rode the sympathy wave after IG’s assassination, not really the dynasty-wave. Rahul Gandhi would have, over time, peacefully walked into the sunset, but believe it or not, Modi ji’s policies and BJP’s acts have given him and many others a NEW LEASE OF POLITICAL LIFE. Now, Rahul G is not emerging as the scion of a dynasty, but as a rallying point, a nucleus of the anti-Modi, anti-BJP wave that is building up into a tsunami.

      Well, I have not studied psychology as a subject. I was a student of science and math and their derived fields. But please recall, Fyodor Dostoevsky was an engineer, Somerset Maugham was a dentist — two of the finest literary giants who understood human psychology better than any trained psychologist ever would.

      Just one last bit: do you think Modi ji and Amit Shah are “democratic alternatives”? Please think again.

  2. I fully understand Tariq Anwar’s chagrin at Mr Pawar’s remark that no one suspects Mr Modi. To take just one recent example, our prime minister is, in the eyes of many including perhaps Mr Tariq Anwar himself, the prime suspect in HELPING Anil Ambani, which is NOT the same as saying that he also HELPED HIMSELF (in a tangible way) in the process. Let me explain:

    1) In May 2014 Modi government came to power; in January 2015 an event was held called “Vibrant Gujarat”.

    2) in that event Mukesh Ambani (MA, in brief) opened his speech with these exact words: “Most respected prime minister Narendra bhai Modi”. Syrupy. Unheard of in corporate addresses — “most respected” etc

    3) my conclusion: MA was more than eager to convey his deep appreciation for PM by using the first two words. Modi ji might have felt happy at the respect shown

    4) when time came up for reopening the Rafael chapter, PM asks MA (my conjecture): “you were interested in it in 2012. Hope you are, even now.”

    5) MA says (again my conjecture): “not now sir, I have my plate full with JIO, why don’t you please, most respected sir, take Anil on board? He has been having trouble with other things, a big project will help him.”

    6) PM says (again my conjecture): “but Anil knows nothing”. MA: “but please, most respected sir! Nothing is difficult for you!!!” PM: “ok, ok. Don’t worry. I will do something.”

    And this is how, in my opinion, Anil Ambani GOT IN.

    No corruption of the monetary kind is involved here, I’m sure. In that respect I too believe Mr Modi is, PERSONALLY, above reproach. (Though one cannot say the same about the people who surround him). But he is surely answerable, and only HE is answerable for thinking that, “NO BODY CAN QUESTION ME” for introducing a greenhorn in place of the experienced HAL. No body else would have the courage to do so without Mr Modi’s tacit approval. How on earth could Mr Modi think so? He doesn’t have the stature of mahatma Gandhi, does he? This is not Gujarat, and on pan-india levels Modi ji STILL HASN’T BEEN ABLE TO PROVE HIMSELF despite the claims from his party to the contrary.

    Being non-corruptible and non-questionable are two very different things. Mr Sharad Pawar seems to be confused about the difference. To say that Mr Modi is “non-corruptible” is not the same as saying that he is “non-questionable”, as if he has a Carte Blanche to do whatever he pleases. In a democracy does anyone enjoy such a Carte Blanche? Who should know this better than Mr Sharad Pawar himself since he has been a democrat for long as well as India’s defense minister? Plus, this particular case has an added dimension of nation’s security. Manufacturing fighter jets for the Air Force is a more serious affair than manufacturing, say, toys and bicycles.

    This is what apparently has bugged Mr Tariq Anwar — Mr Pawar’s saying that no one suspects Mr Modi. Mr Anwar is right in putting his foot down, though resigning etc may be a bit hasty.

  3. P A Sangma made a colossal political mistake in 1999. Had he stayed on in the Congress, as a Christian tribal from the north east, he would have been richly rewarded during the UPA’s decade in power.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular