The move has come as a jolt to the Congress’ central leadership and puts a question mark on the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led govt in Maharashtra.
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The simmering tension between the Congress and the NCP came out in the open on Monday with the latter deciding to support industrialist Rahul Bajaj for the Rajya Sabha by-elections in Maharashtra. The move has come as a jolt to the Congress’ central leadership and puts a question mark on the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government in Maharashtra.
Sensing the first real signs of a schism in the ruling UPA, the opposition BJP moved swiftly on Monday, held a meeting of the high-powered central election committee and officially announced its support to Bajaj. Victory of the Pune-based industrialist is now a foregone conclusion. Shiv Sena is also supporting his candidature. The BJP and Shiv Sena have 110 MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly. The NCP has 71 MLAs.
While Bajaj needs 145 votes to win, he now has an assured support of 181 votes. Faced with the certain prospect of its candidate losing in the Rajya Sabha by-poll, the ruling Congress is put in a most embarrassing situation. A highly placed source told DNA that agriculture minister Sharad Pawar first spoke to BJP president Rajnath Singh on Saturday and an agreement was shortly reached between the two leaders. Maharashtra BJP legislative party leader Gopinath Munde had done the background work for an eventual political strike. The deal was, however, kept a secret till Sunday evening. Irked by the bullying tactics of the Congress, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar-led NCP decided to root for Bajaj. The NCP chief is an old family friend of the Bajajs and the family had appointed him in the past as the arbitrator to sort out differences in the family. The NCP leader reportedly worked out the details of Bajaj’s candidature and the logistics of the support, after which he flew off to the UK. His deputy in the party, Praful Patel, also did the same.
Ahamad Patel got in touch with Pawar in the UK, though nothing much came out of their talks. The party also moved swiftly to limit the damage by making it clear that the development would have no affect on either the Maharashtra government or the UPA at the Centre. “It will have no effect whatsoever on the state or central government,” said AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, Margaret Alva. Her sentiments were echoed by her counterpart in the NCP Tariq Anwar. “There is no question of this affecting our alliance or the governments at the Center or the state,” he said. The NCP is now hoping that its decision will serve as a warning to the Congress not to ride roughshod over it junior partner. “It takes two sides to make an arrangement work. The congress is the bigger party and must take the lead in ensuring that the coalition dharma is being followed,” says a senior NCP office bearer.
There has been an undercurrent of tension between the two sides ever since Narayan Rane joined the Congress. After the last Assembly elections, the NCP had emerged as the single largest party. But after Rane along with a bunch of loyalists joined the Congress, the party has edged ahead.
The latest cause of friction was the recently concluded Legislative Council polls in the state. Out of the 7 seats that were to fall in the ruling combine’s kitty, the NCP suggested that the Congress contest three and leave four to it, in lieu of support for its Rajya Sabha candidate.
Strange bedfellows
- NCP’s move gives rise to speculation of a new political alignment in Maharashtra and Centre against Congress.
- NCP wanted to defeat Congress RS candidate because the latter did not support them in MLC polls
- Rahul Bajaj is an independent candidate supported by NCP-BJP-Sena. The political alignment shows Congress is in isolation.
- Both sides claim that there is no threat to Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra.
- MPCC chief Prabha Rau rushes to Delhi to discuss the situation with party leaders
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No ill will: Bajaj
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