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ShareThe Congress and Nationalist Congress Party alliance got the maximum number of seats and the mandate to rule Maharashtra for the third time when the results of assembly elections were declared on October 22.
But it is now the first week of November and the two parties are still squabbling over sharing of portfolios. As a result, we have a CM -- incumbent Ashok Chavan has been decided on -- but no government. Instead, we have two parties being unable to decide on the division of ministries, both the ratio as well as the portfolios, between them, leading to an ego stand-off that has kept governance in limbo.
This state of affairs would be understandable if this was a fragile coalition of a motley group of parties where local, regional, social and other constituencies had to be kept in mind, or if the mandate was unclear and fractured, or indeed, if the parties were strangers in unfamiliar surroundings.
None of these scenarios is applicable. These are partners who know each other very well; many were once in the same party and the two parties have been coalition partners for 10 years.This endless bargaining and posturing therefore is shockingly irresponsible.
For the last three weeks, both the Congress and NCP have worked hard, it seems, to undermine the confidence reposed in them by the electorate. Rather than being full of the requisite vim and vigour, rolling up their sleeves and getting down to the task at hand, they have indulged in grandstanding.
The NCP, by refusing to budge an inch despite putting up a relatively poorer performance must take the lion's share of the blame, but the Congress has not come out of it with credit either. It is surprising neither of them thought to work out some ballpark agreement before the elections; then this mess could have been avoided.
This impasse must end forthwith. The CM may have decided to get back to work, without a council of ministers, but that is not sufficient. The electoral victory was an appeal from the electorate for stability and the hope that this time round the government would show some sense of urgency about the many problems facing the state.
It cannot be business as usual in Maharashtra which is lagging on almost every human development indicator. The party bosses must now step in and solve this imbroglio fast so that a new government can get down to work. Too much time has been lost already.
