Ambedkar unit of RPI pulls out Govt over Enron

MUMBAI, Dec 14: Cracks appeared in the ruling Democratic Front in Maharashtra with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharatiya Republican Party-Bah...

MUMBAI, Dec 14: Cracks appeared in the ruling Democratic Front in Maharashtra with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharatiya Republican Party-Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) today declaring its withdrawal from the Congress-led State Government on the contentious Enron deal and statehood to Vidarbha.

However, a senior Congress Minister said the move posed no immediate threat to the government.

“Certainly, Ambedkar was upset with the manner in which Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh dealt with the Enron deal as well as the demand for a separate Vidarbha state, but there is no threat to the government, since his party has only three members out of 288. We will try to pacify Ambedkar and request him to continue in the government,” he added.

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Ambedkar, MP from Akola, is the second senior leader of the Democratic Front to blast the government over the Enron issue. Earlier, PWP leader N D Patil, who is also the convenor of the coordination committee, had demanded resignation of Energy Minister Padamsinh Patil for his volte face on the Enron deal. When N D Patil threatened to withdraw support to the government, the Chief Minister conceded his demand to renegotiate the Enron project.

Ambedkar said he has asked Makhram Pawar, the lone Minister of his party in the Vilasrao Deshmukh Government to resign worthwith as per the decision of the organisation. However, Ambedkar declined to comment, when asked if his party was quitting the Democratic Front too.

Launching a frontal attack on the Democratic Front, Ambedkar alleged that whether it was the decision on Enron or Vidarbha, both the Congress as well as the Nationalist Congress Party, the main constituents of the Democratic Front, never took any of the parties into confidence before taking a policy decision.

“We have decided to step out of the government in protest against the Congress and NCP’s failure to take into confidence their DF allies and their arbitrary functioning affecting the interests of the people of the State, Ambedkar said, adding, now his party members will sit separately in the lower house.

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Replying to a question, Ambedkar made it clear that unless the two issues — Enron and separate Vidarbha, were resolved, there was no question of his organisation joining the government.

Strongly supporting the demand for a separate Vidarbha, Ambedkar said at a juncture when there is a demand for smaller states, the Congress as well as the NCP were deliberately pussy-footing the issue for obvious political reasons.