Amid the estranged BJP ally Shiv Sena's efforts to get NCP-Congress support for government formation in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party came in for rare praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha during a special discussion marking 250 sessions of the Upper House of the Parliament, Modi said people's hearts can be won by political parties even without rushing to the Well of the House to register their protest on various issues.
"Today I want to appreciate two parties, NCP and BJD. These parties have strictly adhered to parliamentary norms. They have never gone into the well. Yet, they have raised their points very effectively," Modi said.
"Every political party, including my party (BJP), should learn from them," he added.
The remarks on Pawar's NCP came in as he is meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
The two leaders are likely to take the final call on the draft Common Minimum Programme (CMP) agreed upon between NCP, Congress, and Shiv Sena for the proposed coalition government in Maharashtra.
Following a power tussle with BJP on sharing the chief minister's post, Shiv Sena is adamant on a non-BJP government in Maharashtra and the three parties are having talks for government formation.
President's Rule was imposed in the state last week after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's report to Centre that no stable government was possible in Maharashtra under the current political scenario.
Shiv Sena and BJP contested the recently-held assembly elections together but failed to reach an agreement for government formation. The Shiv Sena's demand of 50-50 government formula, asking for the chief minister's post of two and half years, was not accepted by the BJP.
After BJP failed to stake claim to form the government, the Shiv Sena has tried to rope in NCP and Congress for an alliance government.
Since Shiv Sena has 56 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly, way below the half-way mark of 144, it will need both the NCP's 54 and Congress' 44 legislators to reach the magic number.
