New Delhi, July 20
Sulking over the treatment being meted out to it, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a long-standing ally of the ruling UPA, today underscored the seriousness of the issue that needs to be sorted out before the party spells out the future course of action - remaining in the government or stepping out of it.

While officially the party remained ambiguous whether Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Heavy Industry Minister Praful Patel had put in their papers or offered to step down, but by staying away from attending work, the party sent a political message of being upset.

The NCP would wait for the Congress response and take a view at a meeting here on Monday but remains committed to be part of the secular coalition, party sources said. The party leadership is also under pressure from a section in the party to build the organisation by leaving the government.

“We are unhappy with some aspects which have been raised by Pawar in personal meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,’’ Patel said after the NCP Chief meet senior party colleagues to discuss the developments. That Sharad Pawar drove in a private vehicle to meet Sonia Gandhi was seen as an indication of extent of unhappiness.

Patel said the NCP issues included “functioning of the government, functioning of the UPA and the functioning of the larger coalition’’. He said it was also time for the UPA-II to be more decisive and committed to the issues before the people as time was running out and the Government has just two years to complete its tenure.

What was left unsaid is the feeling in the NCP that the Congress-led coalition does not consult allies before arriving at key policy decisions. Among them are interference in the functioning of the working of the Agriculture Ministry, especially appointments and the move to ban export of cotton by the Commerce Ministry without consulting the Agriculture Minister.

Reports emanating from the NCP camp suggested that the party was upset over the manner in which the Congress sought to handle the issue of Number 2 position in the Union Cabinet and not extending courtesy to a leader of Sharad Pawar’s stature.

Praful Patel sought to rubbish it, stating that Sharad Pawar was not so petty as to raise such an issue underlining that by virtue of his stature, the NCP chief sits next to Sonia Gandhi in Parliament and used to be seated next to Pranab Mukherjee in the Cabinet.