NCP 'termites' weakening Congress in Maharashtra: Mumbai Congress alerts Sonia Gandhi

In another incident hinting that all is not well within the Maharashtra government, Mumbai Congress General Secretary Vishwabandhu Rai has written a letter to interim president Sonia Gandhi stating that the party is being sidelined in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is "weakening the Congress party like termites weaken wood".

'Some necessary concrete steps are needed'

After the 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed the government in the state under the leadership of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. In the letter, Rai said that Congress has remained an ally in the one year of Maha-aghadi government in Maharashtra, while Shiv Sena and NCP are seen in the role of running the government.

"A large number of Congress ministers in Maharashtra government are not getting any work of the organisation at the grassroots level while the general public and party workers do not know the department of its party's ministers," read the letter. "Our allies are hurting our party by making thoughtful strategy and are engaged in advancing their own party. We are failing to stop this," Rai told Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress leader also alleged that no work is being done on the election promises made by the Congress party in the 2019 assembly elections. "Some necessary concrete steps are needed to prevent migration from the party. It is also necessary to instruct the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party to follow the coalition 'dharma'," Rai stated.

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Sena & Congress-NCP

Shiv Sena has often clashed with its ideological polar opposite Congress since the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance over issues like Hindutva, CAA, NRC, Ram Janmabhoomi, Bharat Ratna to Veer Savarkar, COVID-19 etc, with NCP playing the peacemaker. Several ministers from NCP and Congress have accused Uddhav Thackeray of depending more on bureaucrats than his alliance partners, alleging that they were being 'sidelined'. Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, minister Ashok Chavan have openly stated that the party has had no say in any of the decisions being taken by the Thackeray-government. All three allies have maintained that the alliance is safe, but BJP has often asserted that the MVA govt will fall on its own.

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