Shiv Sena launched an indirect attack on Centre in its mouthpiece Saamana on Saturday. The Saamna editorial has focused on the need for a new UPA chief and has advocated Sharad Pawar's name for the position. The editorial has also raised questions on Rahul Gandhi's leadership abilities.


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According to Shiv Sena, opposition parties can't become stronger until all BJP opponents are united. Shiv Sena said in its editorial, "Priyanka Gandhi was detained from the streets of Delhi, Rahul Gandhi is being mocked across the country and Maharashtra govt is being stopped to perform its duties. this is not democracy."

"Opposition continues to remain lifeless"


Shiv Sena said, " farmers are holding protests at the Delhi border for a month and opposition has been supporting their cause but people at the Centre do not seem to care. The Centre is not worried because the opposition of the country is weak. The situation of opposition is such that the barren village needs a new leader to become powerful again."

Saamana further makes a direct attack on Congress and said that the Congress-led UPA seems like an NGO right now and the parties under that do not seem to take the farmers' protest seriously except NCP."

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Shiv Sena advocates Sharad Pawar's name for the next UPA chief


Shiv Sena said in Saamana's editorial, " Sharad Pawar has a powerful personality at the national level and even PM Modi listens and takes lessons from his experiences. Mamata Banerjee is competing alone in West Bengal and centre is trying to break her. In such situation, there are reports that she has sought the support of the NCP chief. Now, Sharad Pawar will be visiting Bengal to meet her. This was supposed to be done under Congress but UPA is weak and has no future leader."

NCP junks speculation over UPA chief post


A few weeks ago, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rejected media speculation that its chief Sharad Pawar may head the UPA. NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said there are unsubstantiated reports in the media regarding Pawar taking over as the chairperson of the UPA.

"The Nationalist Congress Party would like to clarify that there is no discussion within UPA partners regarding any such proposal. The reports appearing in the media seem to have planted by vested interests to divert the attention from the ongoing farmers' agitation,” Tapase said.

Though a day after Sharad Pawar's NCP rejected the talks of him replacing Congress president Sonia Gandhi as UPA chief, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that his party will support him if such a proposal comes to the fore officially.

‘Not remote control or headmaster’: Sharad Pawar


“We will be happy if (Sharad) Pawar sir becomes UPA chairman. But I have heard that he has personally refused it. We will support him if such a proposal comes to the fore officially,” Raut was quoted as saying by ANI.

Are you the remote control or the headmaster of the Maharashtra government?” Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut asked Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar in a July interview for his party’s mouthpiece Saamana, of which Raut is the executive editor.

Pawar promptly answered: “I am neither.”

If headmaster, I would have had to be part of the school. And in a democracy, there is no concept of remote control, he said.

Congress looks for a veteran UPA chairperson


The Congress will hold elections early next year to elect a new president and while Rahul Gandhi remains unwilling to assume the post, it’s clear that the party is likely to get a new president soon. Sonia Gandhi was forced to become the interim president after Rahul Gandhi resigned as party president after the Lok Sabha poll debacle.


Unlike last time when Sonia Gandhi stepped down as Congress president but continued as UPA chairperson and also the leader of the parliamentary party, this time her retirement is set to be complete. And hence, likely to step down from the post of UPA chairperson.


 UPA is in need for a chairperson who is a veteran and astute politician, and who can negotiate with other parties as well.


Regional players who are powerful like Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and MK Stalin’s DMK may not agree to negotiate with young Congress leaders, like say Rahul Gandhi. Also, with the Congress being in a very weak position, the power Sonia Gandhi wielded as the chairperson of UPA has now diminished.


So for her replacement, the search is for someone who has the qualities she had, and more importantly, also has the political power to take on Prime Minister Modi’s charisma.


According to reports, Pawar is the likely front runner. The Maratha strongman shares a good equation with almost all parties and had shown last year, too, that he remains a political mastermind after he sprung a shock on the BJP and formed the government in Maharashtra with the NCP-Shiv Sena-Congress combine.