Rane or Pawar: Who’s the dada?

The NCP’s decision to ask water resources minister Ajit Pawar to lead the local bodies’ elections in Kalyan-Dombivli and the rest of the state is a bid at one-upmanship over the Congress which has fielded revenue minister Narayan Rane.

The move comes a day after Rane hijacked the poll negotiations and, without consulting alliance partner NCP, sealed the pact. Rane and Pawar are perceived as political heavyweights and, interestingly, both are called ‘dada’ by the political activists.

The buzz in the corridors of power is that the outcome of the elections will determine who is truly deserving of that label. NCP leaders also claim they are going to outnumber the Congress, and if that happens in the Kalyan-Dombivli elections, everyone will heave a sigh of relief, including chief minister Ashok Chavan. After all, nobody in the Congress or the NCP wants to see Rane emerging stronger.

CM thanks Uddhav
The Congress has to enter into an understanding — either overt or covert — with either the Shiv Sena or the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena depending on how the circumstances unfold. Last week, Chavan reached out personally to Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray to get his reassurance that law and order would be maintained after the Ayodhya verdict.

Uddhav not only kept his promise but also strongly refuted the proposal of a maha aarti to welcome the verdict. The chief minister thanked the Sena chief for the cooperation. Earlier, Chavan had sought the help of the MNS to tide over the difficult state council elections. And in the bargain, he rewarded the MNS by revoking the suspension order against its four MLAs.

Patil in wrong company
RR Patil is known to exercise utmost caution about his image. One of the reasons for his not entertaining any telephone calls is because he fears he would be trapped by underworld dons. Aaba, as Patil is popularly known, only replies to messages late in the night. The text of the message is always brief. And most of the time it ends with a ‘thank you’.

But the footage showing him in the company of a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim has unsettled the NCP. A senior cabinet minister said, “What was the need to go alone to the iftar party? He should have taken officials along. At least that would have saved him from the allegations.” Now, we all know Aaba is not a bad boy. But it is equally important for him to stay away from bad company.