After cutting each other’s nose to spite their collective, secular face, Congress and NCP leaders now plan to “sit together” — not just to share humble pie but also to work out post-poll alliances to control municipalities such as Pune, Solapur, Amravati, etc., in Maharashtra where their combined strength far exceeds the BJP-Shiv Sena numbers. AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra, Margaret Alva, has already spoken on the phone to NCP leader Praful Patel and talks at the local level will begin soon.However, even if the belated damage-control exercise proves fruitful, the Maharashtra civic poll results have come as a “wake-up call” to the Congress central leadership, underlining that unless it is more accommodative to its secular allies at the state-level, the “communal forces” could well stage a comeback, Congress leaders privately concede. It is exactly a year ago that the discord in the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka paved the way for the BJP to join a government in southern India for the first time.Similarly, the failure of the Congress and NCP to forge an alliance in Maharashtra has delivered Mumbai and other key cities to the saffron combine and provided a huge morale booster to the BJP ahead of the crucial round of Assembly polls in the first-half of this year.Both NCP and Congress leaders openly admit that the main reason for the so-called “saffron surge” was the division in the secular votes. “Undoubtedly, we would have done much better if we had gone with the NCP and RPI,” Margaret Alva told reporters on Saturday, while NCP spokesman D P Tripathi claimed that “the election results had vindicated the understanding of the NCP that only a secular alliance can win Mumbai.”The Congress sought to take heart from the fact that “overall” it was still the largest party, winning a total of 275 seats throughout the state. The NCP came second with 221 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (213) and BJP (182). Independents account for as many as 84 seats, Raj Thackeray’s MNS bagged 28, RPI got 16 and BSP 17. The ‘Third Front” comprising SP, Left and other parties got a total of 49 seats.That a secular combine could have done wonders is clear from the fact that the Congress-NCP combine managed to wrest Akola from the SS-BJP — Akola was the only civic body where the UPA partners had a pre-poll alliance.The blame game for the breakdown of the Cong-NCP alliance in Mumbai has already begun. Congress leaders insist that they were more than accommodative to the NCP’s exaggerated demands. As per the criteria, NCP should have got only 45 tickets but after several rounds of negotiations, the Congress raised the offer to 65 seats and the deal was clinched. Then bickering over a couple of candidates and seats led to the breakdown of the alliance.The general perception in the Congress is that Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar was not keen on the alliance from the beginning and had a “secret understanding” with Balasaheb Thackeray — therefore the NCP used “a silly pretext” to get out of the seat-sharing deal at the last minute.But that argument is not finding many takers in the AICC. “It is true that the NCP was trying to break the pact but we should not have fallen into their trap,” a Congress MP said. Since the Congress is the older and bigger party nationally, it should have made all-out efforts to salvage the alliance instead of walking off in a huff, he added.That decision is being attributed to the “over-confidence” in sections of the Maharashtra Congress — BRCC chief Gurudas Kamat is being singled out in particular — that thought the party could do very well even without the NCP. “After all, we did very well in Mumbai in the 2004 Assembly elections. And at that time the Shiv Sena was united. After the departure of Narayan Rane and then Raj Thackeray, and the death of Pramoad Mahajan, we thought the saffron combine had weakened considerably and that led to our overconfidence,” an AICC leader said. Sections in the Congress are also unhappy with the undue importance given to Narayan Rane, who got as many as 38 tickets for his supporters (mostly ex-Shiv Sena) and managed to win just seven. The “cultural” difference between Rane’s candidates and the rank and file Congress workers is also being cited as one reason for the Congress’s poor show.The main cause of worry, though, remains the persistent suspicion and rivalry between the NCP and Congress despite their being allies both in the state and the Centre. “If the NCP and Congress start battling for supremacy in Maharashtra, both will be finished — and the Shiv Sena-BJP will return to power,” a veteran Congressman said. If UPA partners limit their engagement to sharing power in Delhi but squabble on the ground, the same scenario could take place in other parts of the country, it is feared.
