Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar late on Thursday has sparked intense speculation in political circles. This meeting of both took place just before the Rajya Sabha elections.
He had earlier been the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. His term ended last year. Presently he is not a member of either House. Azad is the leader of the change-seeking group i.e. G-23 in the Congress Party. In such a situation, it is less likely that his own party will give him a chance to become a Rajya Sabha MP again. Let us tell you that the meeting of Azad and Pawar took place at a distance of Sonia Gandhi’s residence in Delhi.
Talking to the English newspaper Economics Times, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “I keep meeting Sharad Pawar ji. In fact I often meet many of my political colleagues. Pawar ji and I have worked together for more than 40 years. We were together in the Congress Working Committees as well as in the cabinets of the PV Narasimha Rao government and the UPA government. It’s always nice to meet Pawar ji. It was a courtesy visit.”
This meeting of the two great leaders assumes significance in view of their time as well as the wider political background. The defeat of the Congress in the recent assembly elections has further shaken the leadership of the Gandhi family. The party’s change seekers have called for a collective and inclusive Congress leadership. Demanded Congress to take initiative for coordination of anti-BJP opposition parties and insisted that they announce their decision soon.
Just two days before the meeting, the youth wing of the NCP in Delhi gave a call to make Pawar the UPA chief. A call that the NCP later distanced itself from. Meanwhile, All India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has called for a big opposition meeting.
Ghulam Nabi Azad had represented Maharashtra twice in the Lok Sabha in the past. Even in the political corridors of Maharashtra, people are eyeing the Pawar-Azad meeting. Here the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi is in a position to win some seats in the Rajya Sabha. There will be elections for this soon.