They are the ruling coalition partners in Maharashtra, but both the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are not leaving any opportunity to outsmart each other in elections, be it civic, local government, cooperatives, Assembly, Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. In public they claim they will not align with the saffron Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, but the reality is quite different.
A case in point is the recently held elections for the post of mayor and deputy mayor for the Mira-Bhayander municipal corporation, an extended suburb of the Mumbai. Both Congress and NCP had fought elections separately for the civic body. They failed to arrive at an understanding even after the elections in which the Congress emerged as the single largest party while NCP failed to maintain its supremacy.
Ironically, the Congress took NCP?s support for granted in the elections to the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. NCP demanded that Congress give it the post of deputy mayor. Till the last minute, the Congress remained adamant and lost both the posts. However, NCP played a ??shrewd game?? in a bid to ??teach a lesson?? to the Congress. It joined hands with Sena, BJP, Janata Dal (Secular), other smaller outfits and independents to support an independent for the post of mayor. In turn, it mobilised support for its nominee for the deputy mayor?s post.
After the Congress lost these two posts, it accused NCP for ??backstabbing and aligning with the communal forces??. However, the NCP shot back, saying the Congress had shared power with Sena and BJP in various civic bodies and local self-government.
Both the parties are involved in one-upmanship as they want to consolidate their positions, especially as uncertainty looms over the continuation of an electoral alliance between Sena and BJP. The saffron duo is in shatters. In such a situation, Congress and NCP are preparing to fight coming Assembly polls separately.
Political analysts feel that if the Congress ditches NCP ahead of the next Assembly elections, the latter may join hands with the Sena. So far, the NCP has denied any such move. A similar combination that is being explored is BJP aligning with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, formed by Raj Thackeray, nephew of Sena chief Bal Thackeray.