New Cong body to keep tabs on Deshmukh

Three months after he was installed as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to check NCP president Sharad Pawar from nibbling at the Congress b...

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Three months after he was installed as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to check NCP president Sharad Pawar from nibbling at the Congress base, the party leadership saddled Vilasrao Deshmukh with a co-ordination committee today. The move is apparently aimed at keeping Deshmukh himself under check.

The committee comprises Deshmukh, PCC president Prabha Rau, AICC general secretary Margaret Alva, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Gurudas Kamat, and Govindrao Adik and Balasaheb Shivarkar, both MLAs.

As for firm support, Deshmukh can only count on himself in the committee. While Alva, Kamat and Shivarkar are all considered neutral, both Rau and Adik are his detractors. To make things worse, Rau and Adik are known to work in tandem. Back in 2003, when Deshmukh lost the chief ministership, it was Adik who was on the forefront among those who lobbied with the high command for his ouster.

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The new committee would apparently curtail Deshmukh’s powers, making it obligatory for him to refer all major policy matters to it beforehand. With 100 days’ rule behind him, the Chief Minister’s honeymoon is over.

On his part, Deshmukh has shown no inclination to step on anybody’s toes so far. His ability to counter Pawar’s influence among the Marathas might have been his USP for getting the chief ministership, but he has not put forth any clear strategy for the purpose yet. On the other hand, the NCP has been engaged in its own internal wrangles, with Jayant Patil, Ajit Patil and R.R. Patil being in news most of the time.

The underlying political game behind the formation of the committee aside, Alva did not define its role. She did not even take the familiar cover that it is aimed at implementing the party manifesto and liaise between the organisation and the government.

However, it is a purely Congress panel, having nothing to do with coalition partner NCP.

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As a fall-out, the inclusion of Adik and Shivarkar in the committee indicates that both are out of the reckoning for a ministerial berth. Deshmukh has kept three vacancies — all Cabinet rank — from the Congress quota in his team and all senior party legislators who have been left out have set their sights on them.