NCP puts Congress on notice

Local political wrangles are threatening to split the secular ruling combine in the state government, with NCP state president Madhukar Pichad on Friday serving an ultimatum on ally Congress.

Pichad has asked the Congress to decide if it is keen on keeping the alliance or if playing ball with a communal Shiv Sena was a better option. The NCP warning came hours after the Congress hoodwinked its ally by grabbing the leader of opposition post in the Thane municipality, albeit after entering into secret talks with the ruling Sena.

Coming as a body blow to the NCP, which boasts of a stronghold in Thane, the Congress move seeks to deprive its ally of the crucial post. Responding to the NCP criticism, MPCC president Manikaro Thakre said, “We took a decision in our party’s interest as the NCP never deemed it necessary to discuss the issue with us.”

Although the Thane development is confined to a civic body, the ramifications are set to be felt across the state. A senior NCP minister said, “It looks the Congress is seriously considering the Sena as its next alliance partner, given that the alliances it formed after the  zilla parishad and civic elections  reveal a pattern of a growing nexus between the two.”

While the Congress sources blamed that NCP for triggering the distrust game by targeting industries minister Narayan Rane in Konkan and aligning with rivals to isolate the Congress in its stronghold of Vidarbha, senior Congress functionaries are a worried lot. A senior MPCC general secretary recalled how the Congress nexus with MNS in 2009, though helped it to come back to power, sent a wrong message in the party across the country.