New Delhi, August 02: Buoyed by the good show in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress is all set for hard bargaining with Sharad Pawar over seat sharing in the coming Assembly polls in Maharashtra, harping on the fact that it emerged as the top party in the state while NCP was at the fourth spot.
“The strategy is not to break the alliance, but to have it on the terms of the Congress by telling Pawar to see reason in the wake of the changed scenario,” said a Union Minister from Maharashtra, who did not wish to be identified.
His statement came close on the heels of state PCC Chief Manikrao Thakre’s assertion that the “new reality” after the Lok Sabha elections needed to be taken into consideration while deciding on seat allocation among the allies.
In the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly, the Congress had in the last state election contested 166 seats and NCP 122, a majority of them in the sugar belt of Western Maharashtra which was considered a stronghold of Pawar but has seen erosion of NCP base in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.
In the LS polls, Pawar managed to get one seat more than what was allocated in 2004, securing 22 out of 48 seats. Now the refrain in the Congress camp is that the Lok Sabha polls have shown that the party is “number one” in the state with 17 seats while the NCP, which was projecting itself as the prime political force, has ended on the fourth spot with just eight seats.
The ‘new reality’ needed to be factored in given the fact that the Congress has secured leads in several new assembly segments, according to the state Congress leaders.
Pawar, however, is unfazed and has made it known that his party would not hesitate to go it alone if the Congress wants to part company.
But, he has also said that his party wants to contest the polls in alliance with Congress and feels that the high command of that party also has similar views.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been a strong votary of the Congress going it alone. Deshmukh, who had been Chief Minister for nine years, insists that the Congress and NCP could come together after the polls.
Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, friend-turned-foe of Pawar, has called for Congress going it alone in Pune district, the home turf of the NCP chief, after Pawar’s party aligned with Shiv Sena and the BJP in civic polls.
A central leader of the Congress and a known opponent of Pawar, however, said that there should be an alliance with the NCP in the Assembly elections if the Congress wants to retain power.
The argument of the leader, who requested anonymity, was that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena factor helped Congress in the Lok Sabha elections but it will be a different ballgame in the Assembly polls as Raj Thackarey cannot be taken lightly.
“Rubbing Pawar the wrong way will in a way result in giving strength to our detractors,” was his contention.
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine, out in the cold for 10 years, has sought to put its best foot forward by projecting a picture of unity and Sena executive President Uddhav Thackarey has already hit the campaign trail.
–Agencies