Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The Congress and the NCP buried the hatchet on Wednesday with an agreement on setting up a coordination committee to ensure “cohesive functioning” of the ruling alliance both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
“We have placed some issues in front of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. We sought better co-ordination between Congress and the NCP both at the Centre and in Maharashtra”, said senior NCP leader Praful Patel. Patel along with party supremo Sharad Pawar met Singh and Gandhi at 7, Race Course Road.
“After a long deliberation it was decided that that a co-ordination committee be set up to further strengthen the coalition between NCP and Congress”, he added.
"This puts a full stop to whatever happened in last few days," Patel said.
A statement issued by the two parties later said "this mechanism would ensure that the UPA allies meet at least once a month to discuss policy and other issues".
Both the parties decided to activate the coordination mechanism, already in existence very soon to ensure the smooth functioning of the Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra.
"The leaders reiterated their resolve to further strengthen the UPA," the statement said.
This is the first time in eight years of the UPA government that a coordination committee of alliance partners is being formed. During UPA-I, there was only a coordination committee between Congress and Left parties.
The NCP leadership is reportedly upset with the Congress party’s `unilateral` approach in `decision making`.
The NCP had complained to the UPA leadership that certain key decisions by the government were communicated to them after they were taken by a few Congress leaders.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister last week, Pawar warned that his party may choose to opt out of the UPA government at the Centre and provide external support.
Both Pawar and Patel had reportedly sent their resignation to Singh last week expressing concern over the way the alliance was functioning and demanding better coordination.
They skipped the Cabinet meeting and also kept away from their respective ministries.
