Pawar meets Thackeray on IPL, wants threat against Australian players to be dropped

The Congress-NCP battle of wits appears to have shifted from centre to state. Almost 48 hours after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) rapped union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar for his faulty policies, the latter made his countermoves.

On Sunday, he met Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to make the
Indian Premier League (IPL) a success by not opposing the inclusion of Australian players in it. Earlier, at a party conclave in Aurangabad, Pawar took potshots at this Congress detractors (Vilasrao Deshmukh, Prithviraj Chauhan and others) and appealed to friend and foe alike not to mix politics and food policies.

Soon after the CWC meeting, the Congress state unit joined the chorus, demanding Pawar should be divested of the portfolios of food and civil supplies and consumer affairs, in view of his insensitive comments on rising sugar prices. A senior Congress minister said: “What justification can we give when the in-house NCP magazine writes: ‘Nobody will die if they stop eating sugar.’ Instead of reassuring the people, they are ridiculing the public outcry against price rise.”

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre said: “It is indeed a matter of concern as the steep escalation in sugar prices cannot be justified. The common man cannot be subjected to endless sufferings on the pretext of shortage of products.” AICC secretary Prakash Mohan demanded that Pawar should be divested of food and civil supplies as there could be clashes of interest while formulating policy with his main portfolio of agriculture.

That the NCP was gearing up to counter the Congress’ assault was clear when civil aviation minister Praful Patel warned of a “a sinister design to malign the image of Pawar.” Pawar’s masterstroke, though, was his Sunday night tryst with Bal Thackeray’s home at Matoshree. Observers said this was Pawar’s way of sending a message to the Congress that he had options, and they shouldn’t be paying games with him.

Insiders in the NCP said: “Rahul Gandhi’s successful visit to Mumbai has already unnerved the Sena. The NCP, which is at the receiving end from the Congress, is using the opportunity to tame the Congress bosses in Delhi.”

The NCP wants to send a signal to the Congress not to cross the Lakshman Rekha by trying to undercut Pawar. The numbers game in the Maharashtra assembly suggest that the NCP (62) and the Sena (45) cannot by themselves form a government in the state, but with independents and others accounting for 40 seats, it is not impossible to touch the half-way mark of 144.

Home minister RR Patil told the party conclave: “A befitting reply will be given to those trying to curtail the stature of Pawar saheb. The NCP may be a smaller party compared to the Congress but our leader stands tallest among the others.” Against the backdrop of the CWC criticism, he said: “If anybody is trying to humiliate him we will not hesitate to submit our resignations in the state.”  The tough posture of the state NCP clearly indicates how angry the cadre was over what the CWC did.

The Congress, however, appears to be in no mood to lower its guard against Pawar as prime minister Manmohan Singh has taken it upon himself to lead the central core committee on inflation. The overall mood in the Congress is that Pawar’s bold predictions and justifications on the price rise have badly-affected the image of the ruling coalition at the centre and state among the “aam aadmi”.

The moot point is how far both parties will go in trying to score points against the other. According to political managers in the Congress, the bottomline is simple: “Notwithstanding our differences, we cannot afford to destabilise our alliance in Maharashtra.”