Sharad Pawar to call meet to keep MVA united
Sharad Pawar aims to stabilise the MVA amid local election tensions, stressing unity is for national polls, not local, as Shiv Sena (UBT) plans to contest alone
Sharad Pawar, chief of the NCP (SP), has stepped in to calm the turbulence within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

The architect of the opposition coalition established five years ago, Pawar said on Tuesday that he would convene a meeting of the MVA’s three constituents to discuss whether they should unite to contest the upcoming local body elections.
Pawar’s announcement comes as the MVA flounders following its embarrassing showing in the recent assembly elections.
As deep fissures appear to develop in the coalition, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) says it will contest the local body elections alone, questions are being raised about how sustainable the opposition alliance really is.
Pawar, however, added a rider to his plan. He pointed out that the mandate of the INDIA alliance at the centre and the MVA in Maharashtra is to contest elections together at the national and state level, respectively, not at the local level.
“The mandate for forming the INDIA alliance was to contest polls at the national level. In the alliance, we have never discussed or suggested contesting together at the local self-government level,” Pawar said.
Although political allies traditionally contest local elections independently, the Sena (UBT)’s decision has triggered speculation about the viability of the MVA, comprising the Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress.
The MVA was a first-of-its-kind experiment in which opposition and ruling parties came together to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power.
The unusual but somewhat successful alliance in the state became a template in the country as it led to the formation of the INDIA alliance, in which various parties regardless of their ideologies came together with the same intent.
Now, when the INDIA alliance appears to be crumbling in the Delhi assembly polls, the MVA coalition too appears to be in troubled waters.
Of his proposed meeting of MVA leaders, Pawar said, “As far as MVA is concerned, we will hold a meeting in the next ten days and see if we can take a different stand in the state (on contesting local body elections together). But it doesn’t mean we will contest together.”
On Saturday, Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut announced, “Right from Mumbai to Nagpur, we will fight the elections (local self-government) on our strength. We want to see what happens.”
The opposition in Delhi too is a house divided. Both the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are contesting the Delhi assembly elections against each other despite being allies in the INDIA alliance.
Asked to comment on this development, the 83-year-old veteran of coalition politics voiced his support for Kejriwal. Pawar said Kejriwal’s APP chief’s base was Delhi, which had elected the AAP for two terms.
READ | Raut meets Pawar after call for going solo in local polls; slams Shah for his critical comments
“Our feeling is to help Kejriwal as much as possible but we will take the Congress into confidence and discuss the issue with them,” said Pawar. “We would have done something by taking him (Kejriwal) into confidence but that did not happen,” he responded when asked if the INDIA alliance was on the verge of collapse.
On speculation that the two NCP factions could reunite, Pawar reacted with a flash of anger.
“Not a single MP said this. Where did you get such information,” he asked, and added, “Moreover, you are asking the chief of a party whether he is going to join another party. Show some decency.”

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