Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) General Secretary Tariq Anwar on Friday quit the party and also resigned from the Lok Sabha in protest against party chief Sharad Pawar's statement backing PM Narendra Modi over the controversial Rafale deal. NCP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Majeed Memon and party leader Nawab Malik confirmed Anwar's resignation.
"Our (NCP) national president Sharad Pawar indirectly gave a clean chit to PM, in a statement on Rafale deal. PM is completely involved in deal. Opposition is demanding constitution of JPC for probe in it. I am upset with his statement," Tariq Anwar said after tendering his resignation.
Anwar was a Lok Sabha member from Katihar in Bihar. The Muslim leader was a prominent NCP face in Bihar.
Sharad Pawar, in an interview to Marathi news channel, said doubts can’t be raised over PM Modi’s intention. He raised questions over Congress’s demand asking the government to divulge the details of the Rafale deal. However, he said that the government shouldn’t have a problem in revealing the price of the fighter jets.
He said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s stance on Rafale generated a difficult situation against the government.
In 1999, Tariq Anwar along with Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma broke away from Congress (I), in protest of a person of foreign origin ( Sonia Gandhi ) being appointed President of Congress Party and have formed Nationalist Congress Party.
(With inputs from IANS )
