State Congress-NCP crack tremors reach Delhi

Nationalist Congress Party strongman Sharad Pawar's move to ditch his ally, the Congress, saw state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan rushing to the Capital to meet with party president Sonia Gandhi. "This is for the first time after 1978 that he has aligned with the BJP and Shiv Sena," said Chavan after a meeting with the Congress state incharge Mohan Prakash at the party headquarters Saturday evening. Earlier in the day, he met the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about the 'shocking' developments.

The Congress is cautious in reacting to the situation. 'Why don't you ask the NCP leaders? They have violated the pre-poll assurances, what can we say about it," said a senior party functionary.

Chavan, a veteran of the number games in the corridors of national capital, is a worried man. Given his not-so-friendly relationship with his deputy Ajit Pawar and the almost unlimited ambitions of the NCP in terms of state politics, no one is ruling out a realignment in state legislature. “We should not be surprised if a new axis with Ajit-Raj-and Nitin as the core players emerges in Maharashtra, either in the tenure of this Vidhan Sabha or the next one," said a minister.