The two words that came from the NCP made evident the degree of rage that AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi managed to invite from his party’s alliance partner, a day after remarking that coalition dynamics was making it tough for the UPA government to check prices. “Single-party rule in India is not possible in the foreseeable future. Coalition is being practised in 65 countries, including Italy,” said D P Tripathi, spokesman of Union Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar’s party. The way the NCP, an important ally at the Centre, hit out at Rahul — naming the birthplace of his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi — discomfited the main ruling party, which was eager to claim that the 40-year-old MP from Amethi was misquoted.
Rahul had, at an interaction with students of a Lucknow college on Tuesday, said coalition governments of the present, unlike in the days when his late grandmother Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and early ’80s was the prime minister and heading a single-party regime, “has its own compulsions” when it comes to checking inflation and corruption. The comments smack of arrogance, Tripathi told a press conference here. The principal Opposition BJP too was quick to join the issue, pointing out how the A B Vajpayee government, which preceded Manmohan Singh’s, comprised an alliance of 20-odd parties and maintained price stability throughout its two stints spanning a total of six years.
Tripathi said the Congress, as the principal party in the UPA, should ensure that any comment of its leader should reflect humility. “I have always admired Rahul Gandhi and wished him success in politics. But I felt sad he has made a statement that isn’t based on facts.” No single minister, including Pawar, can be held responsible for the price-rise as it is the “collective responsibility” of the government, he added.
Later in the day, Tripathi’s colleague and Union minister Praful Patel stepped in to limit the damage, by saying he “disagreed and dissociated” himself with the spokesman’s statement. Rahul made no reference to Pawar and the NCP, he noted, adding, all the allies were working together both in UPA-1 and 2.
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