New Delhi, Jul 15: A meeting of NCP leaders is expected here tomorrow in the wake of the key UPA constituent being unhappy over the new pecking order in the government, which has relegated party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to the third position in the Union Cabinet.
NCP sources said Pawar is coming here tonight and a meeting of party leaders was on the cards tomorrow following the “pettiness, misbehaviour and indecency” of the Congress towards the party chief.
Apparently piqued over the new pecking order in the government, NCP yesterday stayed away from the UPA meeting on Vice Presidential poll candidate but made it clear that it was wholeheartedly supporting a second term for incumbent Hamid Ansari.
Even though he was not present for the meeting, Pawar has welcomed the candidature of Ansari as Vice President and said in Mumbai that his party is part of the decision taken by UPA leadership which announced Ansari's candidature for the post. NCP sources said the party kept away from the meet as it was unhappy about the way Congress had “tampered” with the precedence of hierarchy in the cabinet even without discussing the issue with the party.
Only two days ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh designated Defence Minister A K Antony as the No. 2 in his cabinet, signalling the new pecking order in UPA government after Pranab Mukherjee's exit.
The new chain of command became evident at Thursday's meeting of the union cabinet where Antony sat next to the Prime Minister in the seat vacated by Mukherjee ahead of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Pawar, who is NCP chief, was earlier occupying the seat next to Mukherjee and Antony used to sit after him.
