New Delhi, August 25: Ending the suspense over its ties with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress on Monday said the party’s electoral alliance with Sharad Pawar’s party in Maharashtra will continue. But this came with the rider that the Congress is set to adopt a tough posture for more seats from its ally during the Assembly elections. Party sources said the high command is not in favour of jettisoning any of its existing allies, whether the DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the Kerala Congress (M) and the IUML in Kerala, the MIM in Andhra Pradesh and the NCP. However, there is a view within the party to discard the JMM in Jharkhand and go it alone in the tribal-dominated state.
While the Congress has decided not to have any truck with its former allies such as Lalu Prasad’s RJD and the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the view is that it should continue with the current UPA coalition partners. However, barring Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, where the party has only minor allies, future ties with the DMK, the NCP and the Trinamool may be reviewed depending on the outcome of the Assembly elections in the respective states.
The party is according high priority to election-bound states like Maharashtra and Haryana. Party insiders said they are hopeful of the Congress bucking anti-incumbency in both the states, though of late the situation in Haryana has become a bit dicey with BSP chief Mayawati and Janhit Congress (JC) of estranged Congress leader Bhajan Lal reaching some understanding. The BSP polled 15.75 per cent votes in the May Lok Sabha polls, while the Janhit Congress secured 10.01 per cent. The INLD polled 15.77, the BJP 12.09 and the Congress 41.77 per cent.
Though the party is way ahead, if the INLD enters into a covert or overt alliance with the BSP-JC alliance their combined strength could match the Congress. The BJP on Monday dumped its ally the INLD and decided to fight the polls alone. This gives ample reasons for the Congress to worry as Chautala’s party might join forces with BSP-JC combination.
In Maharashtra, several state leaders, including heavy industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, have been pressing the high command to dump the NCP and go it alone.
Others like AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh have been urging the NCP to merge with the Congress, a demand rejected by Pawar.
Sources said the party high command feels that time is not ripe to cast away the NCP as the move may push Pawar to the NDA camp. The BJP is in disarray and the Shiv Sena is considerably weakened after the birth of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the state.
Though the Congress is in an upbeat mood, party honchos are concerned over the opposition raking up niggling issues like power shortage, price rise and drought before the polls.
Digvijay Singh who returned to Delhi after a tour of the state along with senior leaders Rehman Khan, Mohan Prakash and Madhusudan Mistry, submitted a report to party president Sonia Gandhi on the situation.
Singh said he had identified 12 constituencies where the party could go it alone.
The Congress contested 166 seats in the last Assembly elections, leaving 122 to the NCP in the 288-member House. The party is likely to demand at least two dozen more seats from the NCP by citing the Lok Sabha polls results.
The Congress bagged 17 of the 26 it contested in the May polls, while the NCP could secure only eight of the 22 seats in which it put up candidates in Maharashtra.
Furthermore, the delimitation exercise has favoured the Congress.
Ruling out anti-incumbency, Singh said the NCP could face the music because most of the ministers belonged to Pawar’s party not the Congress.
About his proposal for merger, Singh said it was his personal view. However, party media cell chairperson Janardan Dwivedi said: “So far the party has not taken any view on merger.”
—Agencies