Congress' Nitin Raut disagrees with Pawar's LAC stance, offers 'slip of the tongue' logic

growing unease within Congress came to fore again on Tuesday when party leader and Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut disagreed with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's stance against politicisation of faceoff with China. Mentioning that several Congress leaders had taken part in freedom struggle, he stated that former party president Rahul Gandhi was only raising questions on how Chinese Army could intrude into Indian territory. Raut lamented that Pawar had failed to mention about 1971 victory over Pakistan. 

He claimed that Sharad Pawar still had affection for party due to his Congress roots. Contending that NCP chief's statement was "a slip of tongue", he reiterated Congress' respect for him. Moreover, he exuded confidence that Pawar would eventually back Congress party's position. 

Nitin Raut remarked, "First of all, Pawar himself is a leader who was moulded in Congress party. I am confident that whenever anything is spoken against Congress party, it pierces his heart. Certainly, he has affection for Congress in his mind. I do t kw why he gave such a statement on Rahul Gandhi's remark. What Rahul Gandhi said was to keep country toger. Every citizen has right to kw what happened on LAC. Pawar is our senior leader. We respect him. His statement was maybe his slip of tongue. I am confident that he will back position adopted by Congress party."

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't somebody's failure' 

During an interview on June 27, Sharad Pawar backed Centre, stressing that Chinese troops were pushed away after seeking to encroach on Indian land. According to former Defence Minister, it was wrong to blame Rajnath Singh for present crisis. Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi's claim of 'China occupying Indian territory', he recalled that China had captured around 45,000 sq. km of country's land after 1962 war. Pawar reminded Gandhi that this land remained in China's possession even when Congress was in power. 

Sharad Pawar opined, "What happened was y ( Chinese troops) tried to encroach on our road and were pushed physically. It was t somebody's failure. If somebody comes (within your territory) while you are patrolling, y may come at any time. We cant say it is failure of Defence Minister sitting in Delhi."

He added, "That land is still with China. I don't kw if y (China) have encroached on some area w again. But when one makes an allegation, one should also see what had happened when one was re (in power). If such big land was encroached upon n, it cant be igred. It is a matter of national security and it should t be politicised is what I feel."

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