Staying Pawar
The shrewd NCP boss demonstrated his political skill and stamina in brokering an alliance between the Congress and the Shiv Sena and then seeing off the BJP's attempt to win over his own MLAs.
Politics may be the art of the possible. How else does one account for what happened on November 25 at Mumbai's Hyatt Hotel. Fifty-six MLAs of the Shiv Sena took an oath of loyalty to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, besides their own chief, Uddhav Thackeray. Till a month ago, Sena's politics had revolved around bitter opposition to the NCP and the Congress, often descending into personal attacks directed at their party chiefs. And now, if this incredible moment was playing out on television, it was all because of the political acumen, perseverance and networking skills of Pawar, the original strongman of Maharashtra politics.
It is a good opportunity for me to rebuild the party
