A SHAKY ALLIANCE
The Congress-NCP combine has hard times ahead to remain politically relevant in the state
Even though the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) declared their alliance well ahead of the assembly election in Maharashtra, due on October 21, the coalition has no momentum even at this late stage. Both parties are beset with a crisis of credibility and a lack of dynamic leadership.
Matters took a turn for the worse when Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of then leader of the opposition, the Congress’s Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election this year, after the NCP refused to accept his candidacy for the Ahmednagar seat. This was followed by the departure of Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, an NCP leader from Solapur, who joined the BJP in late March. These departures triggered something of an exodus—16 MLAs from the alliance have since joined either the BJP or the Sena, the highest number of defections since 1980.
The Congress and NCP have just not cohered
as a united front against the dominant ruling combine. Their attempt to bring the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA)—an umbrella group of Dalit organisations—on board failed, with VBA leader Prakash Ambedkar demanding 40 seats in the alliance. (There are a total of 288 seats in the assembly.) The Congress has also been jolted by the withdrawal of three former Mumbai Regional Congress Committee presidents—Milind Deora, Sanjay Nirupam and Kripashankar Singh—from the election campaign, all of whom have cited dissatisfaction with the leadership. Congress legislator Anant Gadgil says that senior party members are unhappy with how little consideration their views have been given in finalising the list of candidates for the assembly election. And Ashish Deshmukh, a former BJP MLA who joined the Congress in October last year (and who is contesting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the Nagpur South West seat), recently accused Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Balasaheb Thorat of minding only his own constituency, Sangamner, and being unwilling to travel across the state.
The story in the NCP is not so different. The party is banking almost entirely on its president, Sharad Pawar, to attract voters. In a rare turn of events, Pawar even did road shows in Kolhapur and Satara in the last week of September, attempting to woo the Marathas, who form the NCP’s core voters. He also spent five hours campaigning in Mumbra on October 3, wooing the dominant Muslim community. Pawar told india today that his party’s focus would be on the government’s failures. “[CM Fadnavis] has failed to boost industry and give relief to farmers. This is his only achievement,” says Pawar (see interview: ‘Congress is the need of the hour’).
The Congress-NCP allliance also appears to have a tacit understanding with the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in some constituencies, including Kothrud (Pune) and Nashik (East). They have withdrawn their candidate in Kothrud and rallied behind Kishor Shinde of the MNS, who will contest state BJP president Chandrakant Patil. In Nashik (East), the MNS has withdrawn its candidate to allow the NCP’s Balasaheb Sanap to take on the BJP’s Devayani Farande in a direct fight.
In their joint manifesto, the Congress-NCP alliance has promised monthly allowances of Rs 5,000 to educated, unemployed youth, minimum monthly wages of Rs 21,000 to labourers and 100 per cent subsidy for drip irrigation. They also have a package of tax waivers for urban voters, having promised to waive property tax for houses up to 500 sq. ft in each of the 15 municipal corporation areas. It will be interesting to see if the alliance manages to win at least 81 seats—the Congress and NCP’s joint tally in the 2014 election. ■