Much water has flown down the Ganga since May, 1999, when one of India’s sharpest political leaders, Sharad Pawar, was expelled from the Congress.
The events that followed, leading to the birth of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), are well documented. That expulsion resulted from Pawar’s direct challenge to Sonia Gandhi’s bid for prime ministership and the inherent suggestion that he was better suited for the top job.
If that episode marked the nadir of the Pawar-Sonia equation over the past two decades, their close consultation and bonhomie over the past two weeks, was certainly one of the warmest.
There was enormous hesitation in the Congress to ally with the Shiv Sena to stake claim to power in Maharashtra. That, however, became a reality, only because of Pawar’s political acumen, his persuasive skills and his ability to accommodate disparate interests.
Pawar demonstrated that he could not only convince top Congress leaders and a number of former Congress chief ministers to work with the Shiv Sena, but also deal effectively with his ambitious nephew, the unpredictable Ajit Pawar.
The unlikely coalition government of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress in Maharashtra has become a reality, undoubtedly, because of Pawar’s abilities and the implications on national politics are bound to be far-reaching not only within the BJP but also in the coalition it leads, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Inspired by the developments in Maharashtra, other regional parties and BJP’s coalition partners are going to feel more ambitious in their own spheres of influence, no longer content to meekly play second fiddle, as they have done since 2014.
{{/usCountry}}Inspired by the developments in Maharashtra, other regional parties and BJP’s coalition partners are going to feel more ambitious in their own spheres of influence, no longer content to meekly play second fiddle, as they have done since 2014.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress, which had virtually given up on Maharashtra during the campaigning for the 2019 assembly polls, finds itself on the seat of power by a stroke of extraordinary luck. Completely rudderless at the top, the party’s spirits have revived.
In October, just before the assembly elections, senior Congressman and former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, had suggested a merger of the NCP with the Congress.
He had described both parties as “tired” and had said that Pawar’s return to the Congress would bode well for both. There is undoubtedly a de facto merger of the minds between the Congress and the NCP today, paving the way for a de jure (official) merger in the future.
Pawar is essentially a Congressman in spirit. In 1986 at Aurangabad, he had merged his Congress (Socialist) with the Congress led by the late Rajiv Gandhi.
The Gandhi family’s search for a new leader to revive and steer India’s main opposition party today can actually end with Sharad Pawar, leading to a second almost instantaneous merger with the Congress. Even if that does not happen because it is most unlikely, there is a future for both the parties in the days to come. The Pawar-Sonia axis can take the Congress and the NCP a long way from here on.