Congress, Pawar-led NCP will "come together in future", says Sushilkumar Shinde
Pune, Oct 8: Senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday said his party and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will "come together in the future".
The former Union minister said he and NCP president Sharad Pawar were raised under the same tree (in the Congress), though the Maratha strongman does not openly speak about it.
"Even if the Congress and NCP are two different parties, but today I would like to tell you that in the future we will come closer to each other... The NCP and Congress will come together because now they are also tired and we are also tired," he said, without elaborating.
Shinde was speaking at a public meeting in his home district Solapur in western Maharashtra.
Talking about himself and Pawar, Shinde said he is s just eight-and-a-half months younger to the NCP leader.
Both leaders are in their late 70s.
"We were raised under one tree...our bringing up took place in the lap of one mother (the Congress) and we came forward under the leadership of Indira Gandhi and Yashwantrao Chavan.
"That is why today we have regrets in our hearts and he, too, has the same feeling... the only difference is that he (Pawar) is not expressive about it but when time will come, he will speak about it," he added.
Pawar left the Congress to establish the NCP in May 1999 along with his colleagues P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar.
The Congress and the NCP later joined hands to rule Maharashtra for 15 years (1999-2014). They were also allies in the Congress-led ruling coalition UPA 1 and 2 at the Centre (2004-2014).
The two parties have entered into a seat-sharing arrangement for the October 21 assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Raj Thackeray questions need for NEET, demands Pradhan’s resignation
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Thursday questioned the need for NEET-UG and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek the resignation of Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan.
Thackeray's demand comes amid massive protests over the cancellation of the examination following allegations of paper leak.
The MNS chief said the government is so “obsessed” with bringing everything under a centralised authority that it appears to make no difference if the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into “disarray”.
In a post on X, Thackeray said that for several years now, a single individual (Pradhan) has remained entrenched in the position of Union education minister. Despite numerous “irregularities” and “scandals” within the NEET framework during his tenure, this “gentleman” continues to occupy the post, he said.
“One wonders: has he been rewarded with this continued tenure because he is so zealously pursuing the agenda of imposing the Hindi language across the entire nation? I earnestly appeal to the Prime Minister: please demand the immediate resignation of this Minister of yours, who has repeatedly toyed with the lives and future of 22 lakh students,” Thackeray said.
The National Testing Agency on Tuesday cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 exam held on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak, with the government asking the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the “irregularities”. The examination for students seeking admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges will now be held afresh on dates to be notified separately.
Thackeray said the Centre continues its tradition of creating “chaos” in every matter and holding the public to ransom. The “NEET paper leak” has proved this once again, he said.
Thackeray sought to know what the Centre did when it found out the alleged malpractice. It merely cancelled the examination and ordered a CBI inquiry, he said.
In 2024, a CBI inquiry was ordered in a similar case, but nothing substantial was achieved through it, he said.
The government projects an air of having fulfilled its duty in all of this. But what about the lives of 22 lakh students and their families, who have been left hanging in the balance, he asked.
Thackeray said fundamentally, there was no need to “impose” NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test)-UG back in 2016.
“However, this government’s obsession with bringing everything under a single, centralised authority is so intense that, to them, it seems to make no difference if the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into disarray,” he said.
The MNS chief also asked ministers within the Maharashtra government to show some “spine” and join voices with those of the southern states and oppose this system.
Thackeray said leaders from the southern states have voiced their opposition in much the same way as he. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay has also demanded the cancellation of NEET. The reason for this is that the five southern states, combined with Maharashtra, collectively possess over 350 medical colleges, whereas the large states in the north have only 180 medical colleges, he said.
Consequently, this persistent push that began in 2016 is essentially an attempt to facilitate the “entry of students from the north into medical colleges in the south”, alleged Thackeray. To ensure this, the largest network of coaching classes has been established in the northern states, he claimed.
