NCP retracts on Rahul rap for coalition remark

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a key member of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, today claimed all was well with the Congress, its senior ally, after criticising Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for his statement that the ongoing price rise was a result of coalition politics.

Senior party leader and Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel initiated a damage-control exercise, as he contradicted the earlier statements by party leaders D P Tripathi and Tariq Anwar.

“There is no reason to be upset. We dissociate ourselves from D P Tripathi’s statement. In coalition politics, everyone is responsible for price rise. Rahul Gandhi did not refer to the NCP or Sharad Pawar,” Patel said.

“I don’t think Rahul Gandhi’s statement should be read in the context of the current coalition, as he was replying to a general question asked to him by students. He has not criticised any party or leader in particular. Therefore, D P Tripathi’s statement is out of context and unwarranted,” he told Business Standard.

The Congress responded by saying Gandhi had not singled out any coalition partner in his comment.

At a meeting with students in Lucknow on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi was asked why the government was not able to control inflation as effectively as his grandmother and a former prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The Congress general secretary responded, “It was a single-party government then (during Indira Gandhi’s prime ministership) ...while today it is a coalition and so has some compulsions.”

As the agriculture minister, Pawar has been facing the heat for spiralling food prices, with rates of onions and other vegetables hitting record highs. Tripathi had targeted Rahul for his remark on price rise.