Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi, Nov. 2: The Congress appears to be playing hardball with the Nationalist Congress Party on the issue of government formation in Maharashtra in a move to extract plum portfolios from the Sharad Pawar-led party.
The Congress is stepping up pressure on its ally to review the power-sharing formula of 1999 after its victory in last month’s Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Assembly elections and thus testing the patience of the NCP in the bargaining that began October 22.
Senior Congress and NCP leaders involved in these negotiations on Monday conceded that there is a stalemate. Asked when a new government would be sworn in in Mumbai, a key player said, "No news."
Answering a query on the standoff, a Congress strategist said, "The issue could be resolved in the next two days, or it could stretch over the next 10 days."
The mood in the Congress is to extract at least two portfolios — home and finance — from the NCP. Mr Sharad Pawar, the tallest leader of the NCP-Congress combine in Maharashtra, is not in any position to bargain this time not because his party got less seats than the Congress but because his options are
limited. If he wants to remain at the Centre he has to be with the UPA , insiders said and asked whether a "weak" NCP could remain intact.
The role of the Maharashtra governor will come into play in the next few days. He has not yet initiated the exercise of government formation but, in the coming days, he has to call the single largest party to form the government, and, if the single largest party fails, then the pre-poll allies or the single largest group that can provide a stable government.
Opposition leaders have decided to call on the governor if the Congress-NCP delays government formation. BJP leader Eknath Khadse said the BJP-Shiv Sena Opposition alliance will seek imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra if the new government is not in place by Tuesday, when the tenure of the present Assembly expires.
