Shiv Sena, anti-BJP parties should unite under UPA banner: Saamana
Mumbai: The Congress, which is in the opposition at the national level, has turned "feeble and disintegrated", Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said on Saturday, and suggested that all anti-BJP parties, including the Sena, should come together under the UPA banner to provide a formidable alternative.
It said that those in power at the Centre were indifferent towards the ongoing farmers' protest, and "ineffective" opposition is the most prominent reason behind the government's apathy.
The 'Saamana' also said that instead of blaming the central government, the main opposition party should introspect about its leadership issue.
"Farmers are protesting on the national capital borders. But the rulers in Delhi are completely indifferent towards this agitation. Disintegrated and feeble opposition party is the main reason behind the government's indifference.
Ineffective opposition is leading to this disintegration of democracy," it said.
"Instead of blaming the government, the opposition party should introspect. There has to be a mass appeal to the opposition leadership. But on this front, that party is standing on the brink," it said.
"Rahul Gandhi individually is putting up a strong fight, but something is lacking...The present condition of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is like an NG0.
Even the UPA constituents do not seem to have taken the farmers' protest seriously. There is no clarity about what these constituents exactly do," the Marathi daily said.
"NCP chief Sharad Pawar is an independent personality at the national level. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is waging a lonely battle. The country's opposition party should stand by her at this time. Mamata Banerjee has contacted only Pawar and he is going to Bengal. But this should have been done under the leadership of the Congress," it said.
"Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Akhilesh Yadav, Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress, K Chandrasekhar Rao from Telangana, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik, Karnataka's H D Kumaraswamy are all against the BJP, but they are not part of the Congress-led UPA. Unless all of them join the UPA, the opposition cannot provide a formidable alternative," it added.
"Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was arrested in Delhi (during a protest march over farm laws); Rahul Gandhi was publicly ridiculed by the BJP; the Thackeray government in Maharashtra is not allowed to function; BJP leaders are on record saying that the prime minister was instrumental in toppling the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh. All this is not good for democracy," it said.
The onus of ensuring that the situation does not deteriorate further is on the Congress party, 'Saamana' said.
"Senior Congress leaders like Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora are no more. There is no clarity on who will lead the Congress and what the future of the UPA is. Just like there is no party other than the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), there is no one else in the UPA. But the BJP is in complete power and they have powerful leadership in Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The UPA has none," it said.
"Alarm bells are ringing that if the Congress does not give a serious thought to these issues, then future looks difficult for everyone," it added.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
