Even as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader and former CM Sushilkumar Shinde get ready to share the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an award function in Pune on August 1, activists of Mr. Pawar’s own NCP faction and the Congress have resolved to protest against the PM with black flags for allegedly neglecting the turmoil-racked northeastern state of Manipur.
Coalition to protest
Local leaders of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which includes the Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP camp and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) said on Sunday that they would demonstrate against the PM for allegedly turning a blind eye to the troubles of Manipur and coming to Pune for an award instead of being in the northeastern state.
Besides the local MVA leadership, the protest will be led by veteran socialist leader Baba Adhav with outfits like Yukrand (Yuvak Kranti Dal), the Republican Yuva Sena and others.
Mr. Pawar will be sharing a stage with PM Modi after eight years. The latter visited Baramati in 2015. Mr. Pawar will be presenting the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak Award to Mr. Modi.
Discomfort in MVA
That Mr. Pawar is to be the chief guest has raised eyebrows, given that the NCP chief and Mr. Modi will be sharing the dais days after the vertical split within the NCP engineered by Mr. Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, who joined the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde government in the State. Ajit, too, will share the dais on August 1 with his uncle.
Senior Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde, a former Union Minister and CM of the State, is a member of the trust which decided to confer the award on Mr. Modi.
The move has caused discomfort within the regional MVA opposition as well as the national-level INDIA coalition of opposition parties.
Prashant Jagtap, city president of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) said that they would wave black flags at Mr. Modi when the latter came to visit the iconic Dagdu Sheth Ganesh temple in the city.
“At a time when Manipur is on the boil, the PM is here accepting an award. We will be protesting with slogans of ‘Go Back, Prime Minister’”, Mr. Jagtap said.
