Eager to achieve his long-held ambition of becoming prime minister, NCP chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar struggles to keep up a balancing act. He maintains he will remain with the Congress-led UPA and, at the same time, visibly keeps his options open to team up with ?secular? forces outside the UPA?the Left parties and Third Front.
On Friday, Pawar skipped his scheduled tour of Bhubaneswar to address a rally organised by the BJD, as the chartered aircraft that was to fly him to Orissa developed a technical snag. Since the Congress had expressed displeasure over his proposed participation in a non-UPA rally, there was speculation that he had bowed to pressure from the Congress.
Pawar doesn?t want to antagonise the Congress, which, according to some pre-poll surveys, is likely to emerge as the single-largest party in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. In case he invites the wrath of Congress leaders before the polls, the Congress may cut him down to size if the party gains the upper hand after the polls.
On the other hand, Pawar?s ambition of occupying the prime minister?s chair is making him prepare for several post-poll options. He is allowing NCP leaders to project him as a capable PM candidate, to ensure that his name is kept in circulation. Simultaneously, he is hobnobbing with leaders of other parties to guarantee that if no party or alliance reaches the magic figure, Pawar could be the figure around whom there could be a realignment of parties.
?In the absence of a national-level alliance of UPA?s constituent parties, some partners are contesting independently?We had appealed to them to sit together, select a common leader, a common programme and contest elections jointly. It was not accepted and UPA partners have resorted to (pre-poll) adjustments at the local level.?
While pointing out that the Bhubaneswar rally that he skipped was not organised by the Third Front or the Left, but by the BJD, he praises the communists. ?We can?t forget the contribution of the Left. They have supported the UPA for four years and two months and I am grateful to them for their support to provide a stable government.?
Further, he says that in the event of a hung House, the UPA would have to approach ?secular forces? like the left and the Third Front for support. He believes the ?secular forces? will not support the BJP.
On the issue of the prime ministerial candidate, he has made it clear that Manmohan Singh is the candidate of the Congress party, not of the UPA.
Pawar is best known for his political acumen and coalition manipulations in the past. Despite being groomed in the Congress by the first chief minister of Maharashtra, Yeshwantrao Chavan, Pawar broke away from the party twice. In 1978, he engineered a coup and toppled the government of Vasantdada Patil in the state to wrest power under the banner of the Progressive Democratic Front. In Delhi, he attempted to do the same to PV Narasimha Rao.
Given his ambition and political savvy in the coalition age, Pawar is seen as one of the most powerful and unpredictable leaders in national politics.