2019 Polls may throw up hung Parliament: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Tuesday predicted that no single party would get a majority in the 2019 elections and that there would be a change in government both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

Likening the current political scene to the one in 2004, the senior leader, often dubbed as ‘Chanakya’ of Indian politics, said it does not seem possible for a single party to come to power in 2019.

“I don’t think power equations will remain the same in the state (Maharashtra) and Centre. It would be like 2004 when no party secured a majority but a government under (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh continued for 10 years,” Pawar said at ‘Mumbai Manthan’ organized by India Today group in the city today. He pointed out that the NDA government headed by (Prime Minister) Atal Behari Vajpayee had gone to elections with an impressive ‘Shining India’ campaign, but failed to win the polls.

It paved the way for a new Congress-led coalition at the Centre coming to power with Manmohan Singh as PM and he led it for two consecutive terms till, 2014. “Compare Vajpayee’s stature and leadership with the present PM’s stature and leadership. I feel Vajpayee was one of the tallest leaders of the BJP. I don’t think that is the situation in that party today,” Pawar said. Rejecting the argument of a ‘vacuum in politics,’, he sought to underplay the ‘Modi vs Who’ debate and said every political situation throws up a leader. (IANS)