UPA Intact, NDA Breaking, Says Pranab
Despite severe alliance troubles facing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said that the UPA “was very much intact” and it was the BJP led National Democratic Alliance that was breaking.
Addressing correspondents in New Delhi, Mukherjee is reported to have said: “UPA is not a political entity and it is very much intact… it is not disintegrating”.
The top Sonia Gandhi aide says that despite failure of seat sharing talks with alliance partners like Samajwadi Party and RJD, the alliance was still intact.
“During their press conference held recently in Lucknow, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, have reiterated their support to UPA. Therefore it is not disintegrating,” Mukherjee said.
He added that at the same time, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal and Telugu Desam Party, all these have left the NDA, which is breaking.
Mukherjee’s claims notwithstanding, political pundits suggest that the worst for the UPA is yet to come, especially as the alliance is getting cramped between Congress’ refusal to accept ground realities and ever-growing aspirations of regional allies.
