NCP pretends to be progressive, but it's 'divisive' party: Maharashtra BJP president

File Photo

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Thursday dubbed the NCP as a "divisive" party which pretends to be progressive and said its chief Sharad Pawar should control his 'tukde tukde' gang that seeks to divide the society.

Speaking to reporters here, Patil said, "NCP MLC Amol Mitkari recently ridiculed a particular community and also Hindu priests in a speech and he was encouraged by state NCP president Jayant Patil and (minister) Dhananjay Munde. Pawar should control his 'tukde tukde' gang that ridicules a community and Hindu priests."

The BJP leader accused the NCP, a key constituent of the Shiv Sena-led MVA government in the state, of paying lip service to secularism while practicing divisive politics.

"The NCP likes to take the name of secularism, but in reality it intends to pit one community against another and divide the society into various groups. The NCP leadership has no courage to ridicule priests of any other religion, but they do the same with Hindu priests. I am surprised with it," Patil said.

The former minister said the NCP leadership has no attachment with any community in the state and maintained the party never took up the cause of reservation in jobs and education for the Marathas.

"The NCP shared power (with the Congress) in the state between 1999 and 2014 but never took efforts to give reservation to the Maratha community. It came back to power in 2019 (in alliance with the Sena and the Congress), but failed to secure reservation for the Marathas. It's callous attitude led to OBCs losing their political reservation (in local bodies) as well," Patil alleged.

"This government has even messed up the reservation for Dalits in promotion in various state government departments. It pretends to be progressive, but in reality, the NCP is divisive," the BJP leader said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.