An alliance of convenience

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Mumbai: After surviving the brinkmanship and aggressive posturing by difficult allies on the eve of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, and after posting an impressive tally on its own strength nevertheless, the Congress is poised to face the next big test of its approach to political coalitions. This will be in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, where it shares power with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

Some Congressmen like former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and former Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil have been urging the party to go solo in the Assembly polls. A section of NCP leaders is also claiming that the NCP would win more seats than the last polls on its own.

The NCP is yet to pick up the pieces after its lacklustre performance in the Lok Sabha elections, during which it had projected its chief Sharad Pawar as the prime ministerial candidate. Pawar had not only ensured that his name remained in circulation for the PM’s post, but had also made unsubtle overtures towards the Shiv Sena.

However, after the Lok Sabha election results, it appears that the NCP needs the Congress more than the Congress needs the NCP. Pawar and senior NCP leaders are now desperate to stitch up a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for the Maharashtra Assembly polls. Pawar’s suggestion at the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli sealink in Mumbai on June 30 that it be named after Rajiv Gandhi is being decoded in political circles to be a manifestation of this desperation.

Till now, the Congress leadership had ignored the dissenting voices from within its cadres on the alliance with the NCP. However, after Pawar’s suggestion — which was immediately accepted by chief minister Ashok Chavan — the Congress high command has issued a gag order on its leaders on the issue.

In the NCP, however, Pawar’s gesture is not being appreciated by a vocal section of the leaders. “Pawar saheb’s gesture is highly unbecoming of a leader of his stature,” a senior NCP functionary said. “It is as if he is willing to do anything to please Sonia Gandhi… It would have been alright if some other leader from the NCP would have made the suggestion. Not him.”