New Delhi, October 19
Tensions within the ruling alliance have surfaced with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar publicly stating that the UPA leadership had been weakened by the recent string of scams, because of which the judiciary had become more assertive.

In an indirect attack against the Congress, Pawar said, “There was a loss of public opinion due to the 2G scam and the public questioned why the Prime Minister was not intervening.

“At such a time, it is important to have a strong Central government. But it does not seem to the case. Because of this, 
the judiciary and other forces have come to the fore.” He made these comments at a programme organised by the Marathi daily Loksatta.

Besides the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress and its other major ally, Trinamool Congress (TMC), have also been going through a rough patch. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had recently refused to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his trip to Dhaka in protest against the Teesta river waters treaty which India was set to ink with Bangladesh.

Although relations between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have been under strain for some time, they hit a fresh low after the Maratha strongman’s party lost the crucial Khadakwasla bypoll two days ago. The NCP leadership, particularly Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and his nephew, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had raised the pitch by campaigning vigorously in this election.

This was a crucial election for the Pawars as Khadakwasla is part of Sule’s Lok Sabha constituency Baramati.

“It is major setback for the Pawar family ... after all, Baramati has always been its stronghold,” remarked a senior Maharashtra Congress leader.

There are murmurs in the NCP that the Congress had sabotaged the election to help the rival BJP.

The NCP candidate Harshada Wanjale, the wife of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Ramesh Wanjale, whose death resulted in the by-election, had been a member of the Congress zila parishad till recently.

She had defected to the NCP shortly before the election at the behest of Ajit Pawar, a move which had not gone down well with the local Congress unit. Officially, the Congress played down Pawar’s remarks.

“We have always made it clear that every constituent of the coalition has the democratic right to explain his views.It does not mean that it is shared by all of us,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said today.

Privately, Congress leaders said Pawar is smarting after the Khadakwasla election defeat and he was looking for an opportunity to hit out at the Congress.

They were, however, confident that these spats would not destabilise the UPA government, adding that this was Pawar’s way of underlining his party’s political relevance and putting pressure on the Congress. Pawar, who has always nursed Prime Ministerial ambitions, also uses such opportunities to endear himself to other political parties as a future investment. Pawar’s comments were predictably seized upon by the BJP to declare that ruling coalition partners now realise they are on a sinking ship and could quit the alliance.

Stating that the Congress was feeling the heat of its allies, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “A minister who is no less capable than Sonia Gandhi or the Prime Minister has acknowledged that the government is beseiged with scandals, that there is a loss of trust of the people and the credibility of the government has been lost.”