The Nationalist Congress Party, led by the redoubtable Sharad Pawar, is a unique kind of organisation. It is a rump of the Congress, created because Mr Pawar did not want to work under Sonia Gandhi and yet it is in an alliance with the same party he left. Unlike that other breakaway, Mamata Banerjee, who formed the Trinamul Congress, the NCP has not been able to strike it big, remaining a junior partner to the mothership. And while it cohabits with the Congress, both at the state and the Central level, it is not faithful; indeed, it is constantly flirting with other parties. Despite all its willingness, however, it has not been able to take the final step and walk out of the prickly relationship, mainly because it has no takers.
The NCP’s odd behaviour can be explained in a simple way — it emerges out of Mr Pawar’s monumental ego. He sees himself as a man destined for bigger things but thwarted because of circumstances and the chicanery of the Congress which wants to always keep him down.
Mr Pawar has never come to terms with the fact that he has remained on the periphery of national politics; he sees himself as not just a kingmaker but a king and his dream is to be the first Maratha to rule India.
The Congress and the NCP have been at the helm in Maharashtra for over 10 years, and through this period have been at each other’s throats, sniping and bickering, and not always in a pleasant way either. Partnerships are fraught at the best of times, but in this case the NCP has constantly looked out for other options, staying on in the end because there is nowhere it can possibly go. Yet, come the general elections, Mr Pawar and his lieutenants begin their political games. This is more than just a bargaining ploy to get the best possible seat-sharing deal; Mr Pawar would gladly decamp if someone else will have him. The problem is, no one wants him, not the least because they have their own ambitions.
It is in this context that the latest outburst against the Congress has to be seen. Praful Patel, a faithful NCP member and old Pawar ally, has declared that there is no need to keep harping on allegations against Narendra Modi “now that the courts have declared him innocent”. This is a naked attempt to rattle the Congress but also to reach out to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
What Mr Patel is saying, undoubtedly at the behest of his boss, is that the NCP is ready to do business with the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) if it comes to power. But this has failed to impress the BJP — its Maharashtra chief let it be known that his party was not interested.
At the same time, the NCP has begun seat sharing talks with the Congress. It wants the same 22 (out of 48) seats that it got the last time; but despite the Congress being on the backfoot all over the country, it is not going to easily give in to the NCP. The Congress is confident that it can do well in Maharashtra and, moreover, is convinced that the NCP’s glory days are over. There is merit in this assessment; in the last five years or so, the NCP’s image in Maharashtra has taken a nosedive, with several of its ministers involved in corruption scandals and its biggest leader, Ajit Pawar, in the dock for his crude comments. Chief minister Prithviraj Chauhan has subtly but surely sidelined the NCP and it is very unlikely that the party will get even the eight Lok Sabha seats it got the last time. Why then bother to give them more seats when every victory counts for the Congress?
Where does this leave Sharad Pawar? He will want not just eight but many more MPs to be even counted as a possible player in the national stakes. That is why he is persuading his reluctant state heavy weights to quit their ministerships and contest the Lok Sabha elections.
If the BJP wins big, it will get allies without a problem; if it doesn’t, it may still manage to cobble together a majority. A Sharad Pawar with just a handful of MPs will not be a particularly attractive proposition when there are bigwigs like J. Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee, each with an expected 25-plus tally to be wooed. He needs to have at least 15 Lok Sabha seats in his kitty, a very unlikely proposition.
If the NCP gets five or so, it will have no option but to sit in the Opposition, in which case it will not rock the state government boat till the Maharashtra elections. In short, he is stuck to the Congress, for better or for worse. This makes him very uneasy, but there is nothing he can do about it.
Mr Pawar has brought this upon himself. A man of great political acumen and understanding, who had the reputation of being a good administrator, is now seen as a politician constantly looking for the main chance. Mr Pawar is a progressive and secular man, always open to new ideas and thoughts, but is afflicted with blind ambition. He is friends with politicians from the BJP, the Shiv Sena and many other parties, but they all know him to be interested only in power.
Allegations of corruption and unsavoury friendships have dogged him throughout his career. All that has caught up.
Once again Mr Pawar will dream about his chances in Delhi and once again he will be thwarted. If the situation so arises, the NDA (and the Third Front) will at best tolerate him because of the MPs he will bring; but there is no chance anyone will let him close to the top job.
But that will never stop Mr Pawar from still trying his best.
The writer can be contacted at sidharth01@gmail.com
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