| In politics, nothing is permanent — neither friends nor foes — except marriages of convenience. What else would you call a game where badmouthing friends, flirting with the enemy and swapping partners are common? Undoubtedly, politics. Currently being played in Maharashtra, the game of politics has witnessed rivals forming alliances that are almost 'unholy' in nature. The recent Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Municipal Council elections across the state had political parties with diametrically opposite ideologies coming together in a gambit to capture power at the grassroots level.
The trend began with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) forming an irreverent alliance with the Shiv Sena to elect its own mayor in Pune and a ZP president in Amravati. Pawar who has tried hard to maintain a safe distance from the "communal forces" of Sena and BJP has now chosen to align with the saffron party rather than Congress, both at the centre and the state. It has left its partner Congress both at the state and centre out in the cold. Pawar, however, is not new to the game of swapping loyalties. Although he bitterly broke away from the Congress in 1998 due to its dynastic politics, he chose to form an alliance with the very same party in two consecutive government tenures. Now in its thirst for power, the NCP seems to be siding with all and sundry, whether it matches its ideology or not.
The flippant alliances have changed the political climate in the state as well. Maharashtra's lowest political layer saw communal forces uniting with the secular ones (NCP-Sena,) communists with the capitalists (Peasants and Worker's Party- Sena) and the neutrals with the extremists (Jan Swarajya Party-NCP.) In all the Congress bagged 11 chairmen and 5 vice chairmen posts in 27 Zilla Parishads. The NCP trailed Congress with nine chairmen and 12 vice chairmen posts in its kitty. Similarly, the Peasants and Worker's Party (PWP,) recognised for its communist and anti-Sena stand chose to toe their line and elect a Sena president in the ZP elections in Raigad.
The trend, however, doesn't stop with the Sena. Congress, the self-appointed match referee decided it was time to put a leash on ally NCP by loudly stating that the party couldn't ride two horses.
Spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi soon after the alliance stated: "There is a definite demarcation of Indian politics between secular and non-secular forces. Riding two horses is not only bad for political health but also very confusing for the electorate." Pawar too was quick to unveil the list of affairs that the Congress had been hiding.
Prior to the ZP election, the Congress had tied up with the Sena in nine municipal councils and with the BJP in five municipal councils, respectively. This, however, was not the only point of difference between the alliance partners.
Fresh out of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election fiasco in February, where infighting between Congress-NCP brought victory to the Sena-BJP combine, the NCP was not willing to give up the Pune mayoral seat. As the largest party in Pune, NCP needed little support from the Congress. However, Suresh Kalmadi, who heads the Congress in Pune masterminded his own move by inviting support from Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and other Independents. This incensed Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar who had spearheaded the NCP campaign in Pune. Judging the gravity of the situation, Ajit Pawar has roped in the Sena, to form a majority and has installed its candidate Rajlaxmi Bhosale as the mayor.
Meanwhile, just as the NCP-Sena alliance was formed, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray extended a hand of future friendship to Pawar. "Pawar is an old friend and I have been saying that if the two parties come together, we can do a lot in the state. It will be in the interest of Maharashtra's development," Thackeray said. Almost like forgiving Thackeray who has often ridiculed Pawar by referring to him as a Maidya cha potha (Sack of flour,) Pawar stated in Baramati that he was open to an alliance with any party "including the Shiv Sena." But true to his unpredictable self, on March 27 in Pune, Pawar went back on his words and said that his party would never fundamentally side with the Sena.
Far from bigger guns like the Congress and NCP, even smaller parties had their share of fun in playing with power. In Kolhapur, the neutral Jan Swarajya Party teamed up with the NCP, whose politics it up till now abhorred. Sate minister and Party president Vinay Kore who had publicly condemned the NCP for falsely appeasing the secular mandate, feels the alliance will not make any difference to the party's ideology. "We realise that we need to be in power in order to implement our manifesto. The NCP is willing to let us work accordingly," says Kore.
The Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) too had a quick change of heart in Raigad. The party has tied up with the Sena, with which it has had several violent outbursts. The NCP and Sena had a consolidated presence in Raigad and their common enemy is the PWP. In 2002 ZP elections, the Congress and the Sena ganged up to defeat the PWP majority and bring in a Sena president. The PWP with its five MLAs resorted to blackmailing the Democratic Front government at the state, which led to the then Chief Minister pleading with party president Jayant Patil to forgo his stance.
Again, in the elections for the BMC mayor, the Congress was supported by none other than the MNS. Raj Thackeray who has led several violent revolts against the Congress, jumped into the Congress camp opposing its mentor, the Shiv Sena. Although it was Sena that won the election, Raj displayed his leanings towards the Congress on the political platter.
With the constant swirl in the party dynamics and mutual distrust in alliances, one wonders if the state can sustain a coalition government. According to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh such arrangements are on local levels and have no bearing on the party dynamics. However, he agrees that they are against party ideologies.
"As a party we may never approve of such an alliance. However, it is necessary to be in power. We can form such alliances at the local levels since it goes unnoticed," he admits. Even last year, the NCP and Sena supported each other to elect industrialist Rahul Bajaj and Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule to the Rajya Sabha, which didn't go down too well with the Congress. Congress members feel that perpetual bickering between the NCP-Congress has led to a degradation of politics in the state.
The recent state of affairs in Maharashtra is a result of the coalition culture, which aims at achieving short-tern gains. The proverbial difference between what a party preaches and what it practices is out now on display in Maharashtra. However much party leaders may deny, the cracks in the alliances have begun to show and parties are now willing to move on to greener pastures.
Index |
