Fears of an adverse political fallout because of swine flu, particularly in pollbound Maharashtra, has begun worrying the UPA government as it continues to tackle the problem on a warfooting to prevent it from acquiring epidemic proportions.

Serious concern over the issue was voiced in the Union Cabinet which met on Thursday morning with agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar making it plain that unless the flu was tackled with urgency, it could mar the prospects of the Congress-NCP government in the state. The Assembly elections in Maharashtra are due in October and the ruling coalition, which has been running the government in the state for nine years now, is hoping to make a comeback.

According to the UPA sources, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself flagged the issue in the meeting when he sought an update from health minister about the steps being taken. Azad responded by stating that his ministry had been working double time, especially in critical states like Maharashtra. He told the meeting that he had already despatched teams of officials to Mumbai and Pune, who, along with the help of state government authorities, would be setting up mechanisms to deal with the rising situation.

The agriculture minister, however, said he was worried about the political fallout of a shutdown situation when one of the ministers pointed to a similar instance in Mexico, where its largest city was shut down for over two weeks in April this year following death of over 150 people due to the flu. Mexico, some newsreports have stated, suffered losses of over US$ 60 million a day because of the shutdown. Pawar?s clear concern was whether Mumbai and Pune, both commercial cities, could withstand shutdowns and the likely impact it would have politically given that assembly elections were just two months away. Azad, however, sought to put the onus on state governments, saying that the centre had limited role and it was the states that had to take the call on shutdowns. Mumbai and Pune have already closed down all its schools, cinemas and public places like malls.

For the NCP chief, the Maharashtra elections are critical as he derives his political clout from being an important player in the state. A defeat and the failure to ensure a comeback in the state is certain to reduce his bargaining strength vis a vis the Congress at the Centre. The BJP has already decided to make swine flu into an issue. On Wednesday, the party strongly criticised the UPA govenrment for its failure to tackle the problem.