The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have clinched the power-sharing deal in Maharashtra and formed a coalition government for the third successive term, after haggling over the power-sharing formula for 16 days. It is the beginning of yet another term of love-hate politics in Maharashtra, with the uneasy ?secular? partners being allies and rivals.
Maharashtra, home of the country?s financial capital Mumbai, is important for the Congress, while it is the home state of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the only state where the NCP has a substantial hold. From 1999 when Pawar broke away from the Congress to form the NCP, the two parties have been competing with each other for control of the state. Neither of the two has been able to win a clear majority on its own.
The new power-sharing formula has annoyed Congressmen who say it is heavily tilted in favour of the NCP, despite the Congress emerging as the single-largest party with 82 seats in the 288-member Assembly, followed by the NCP with 62. (The BJP has won 46, the Shiv Sena 44 and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 13).
Boisterous Congress leaders, who wanted the party to go solo in the Assembly elections after the impressive Lok Sabha results in the state, are blaming the high command for yielding too much to the NCP.
In 1999, both parties had fought the Assembly polls against each other, the Congress had won 75 and the NCP 54 seats. In the post-poll alliance, the formula worked out was 21 ministerial berths for each partner with the Congress getting the chief ministership. In 2004 the allies had a pre-poll alliance that resulted in the NCP emerging as the single-largest party with 71 seats, followed by the Congress with 68. The 1999 formula was changed. While the NCP allowed the Congress to retain the chief minister?s post, it claimed a larger share of portfolios in the ratio of 24 (NCP):18 (Congress) seats, excluding the chief minister?s chair.
In 2004-09, the NCP played truant on several occasions, like teaming up with the Shiv Sena-BJP in the Pune municipal corporation to wrest power from the Congress, and supporting the Opposition-backed independent industrialist Rahul Bajaj for Rajya Sabha, against the Congress nominee.
On the eve of Lok Sabha polls, NCP leaders projected Pawar as the prime ministerial candidate and even hobnobbed with parties like the Shiv Sena to indicate that in the event of a fragmented mandate the NCP had its options open.
After the NCP?s lacklustre performance in the LS polls and the Congress party?s success, some senior Congress leaders had led a campaign for going solo in the Maharashtra Assembly polls. Some had even advocated the merger of the NCP with the Congress.
Congress-NCP relations are likely to remain uneasy in the third consecutive term as well. The success in the recent polls is largely due to a weak Opposition, with the Shiv Sena facing rebellions by Rane and Raj Thackeray, and money power. However, the Opposition in the new Assembly would be more aggressive with the entry of the MNS and rabblerousers like SP?s Abu Azmi.
The NCP camp feels that the powersharing formula is judicious. ?We are not at the mercy of the Congress,? a senior state NCP leader said. He pointed out that the NCP had not forgotten the humiliation meted out by the Congress after the Lok Sabha polls.