NCP dilemma: CM post or key berths

After making a pitch for the chief minister's office in Maharashtra, could the NCP be having second thoughts?

After making a pitch for the chief minister's office in Maharashtra, could the NCP be having second thoughts?

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After their initial euphoria at emerging as the single largest party in the Assembly, NCP stalwarts are coming to realise that the chief minister’s post may not be such a great idea after all.

This because the Congress is toughening its stand on the issue and if NCP chief Sharad Pawar holds them to the 1999 arrangement — where the party with more MLAs gets the CM's post — the NCP will have to concede all other key departments to the Congress.

These include home, finance, rural development, energy, power, health, education and tribal welfare. Ministers in charge of these departments get to be in the limelight always. They flash the development card during elections, pointing out to voters what was done for them in real terms.

In contrast, the chief minister's party gets only revenue among the major departments. And revenue is not something that endears you to the people. The department plays a collector's role and incurs the wrath of all.