Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole’s refrain that the party will go it alone in future polls is giving headaches not only to his coalition allies, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena but sections within his party in the State as well.
“Our line is fixed…we have suffered many setbacks in the past and we want to avoid a debacle like the 2014 general elections. Keeping that in mind, we have begun preparations,” said Mr. Patole on Wednesday, in a riposte to Mr. Pawar and the NCP.
His remarks alluded to the clandestine understanding between the BJP and the NCP before the 2014 general elections that had resulted in the crumbling of the hitherto unbroken polar alliances in Maharashtra, the Sena–BJP (since 1989) and the Congress-NCP (since 1999) and led to all four parties contesting separately.
Trust deficit
Mr. Patole’s remarks also reflected the yawning trust deficit between the Congress and its MVA coalition allies — the NCP and the Sena as well as local Congress and NCP leaders, particularly within the Congress’ rank-and-file in Pune and other parts.
Addressing party workers last week at Lonavla in Pune, Mr. Patole had reportedly hinted that his movements were being closely monitored by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar while rebuking Mr. Pawar, as Pune’s Guardian Minister, for ignoring the interests of party workers in the district.
Mr. Patole immediately did a volte face on Monday clarifying that his statements were directed at the BJP at the Centre while he was speaking specifically about building his own party.
In the wake of Mr. Patole’s remarks, Congress Ministers Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat along with party in-charge H.K. Patil met Mr. Pawar in Mumbai at which the MPCC chief was not present. Mr. Pawar had earlier refused to react to Mr. Patole’s statements, brusquely stating he did not respond to the “comments of lesser men” (read Mr. Patole).
“I was not invited by Mr. Pawar at the meeting nor was I even aware of it…when I asked my colleagues what had transpired, they told me it was a discussion regarding OBC reservation. I just want to say this that while I am far from upset [at not being invited], if my style of functioning while building my party is raising some people’s hackles, then I could not care more about it,” said Mr. Patole, in a thinly veiled jibe at Mr. Pawar and his own party colleagues.
According to observers, Mr. Patole’s remarks have enthused the Congress rank-and-file in Maharashtra, who have been chafed after having being dominated by the NCP in the State for so long.
This was reflected at an MPCC meeting on Tuesday (which was chaired by Mr. Patil in the presence of senior leaders) where all district presidents, office bearers and other party workers strongly advocated contesting not only civic polls on their own but also bigger elections like the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
Bellicose remarks
“There is nothing for the party high command to officially ‘approve’ of Mr. Patole’s seemingly bellicose remarks... He has been made MPCC chief with the mandate to galvanise party workers which he is what he is exactly doing. At the Lonavala meet, the workers had complained to him that a number of appointments to local committees had been pending. It was in that context that Mr. Patole had said the Congress was being sidelined,” Pune party spokesperson Ramesh Iyer told The Hindu.
Given that the MVA formula was to share power on a 60:20:20 ration at the district levels in regard to appointment in committees (depending on which of the three parties had maximum clout in a district), a senior Congress leader said Mr. Ajit Pawar had ensured that only the NCP’s posts were filled till now.
“Be it the Lok Sabha, Assembly or civic body elections, the NCP leaders have always ensured that their interests held priority even when the two parties fought jointly. This has only resulted in the NCP getting stronger at the Congress’ expense, especially in districts like Pune,” he said.
According to a city-based political analyst, Mr. Patole’s aggressive stance and his exhortations to the party workers to fight as there was ‘nothing to lose’ has worried his more pusillanimous party colleagues.
Insipid leadership
“When Ashok Chavan was State Congress chief, the party’s performance was disastrous in the elections. Likewise, Balasaheb Thorat, who was less concerned with expanding the party than looking after his own interests, proved an ineffectual party-builder. Given the utterly insipid leadership at both State and Centre, the Congress rank-and-file pretty much fought on their own in the 2019 Assembly elections and turned in a creditable performance under the circumstances. So, Mr. Patole’s actions are now coming as a fresh breath of air,” said the analyst.
He pointed to the vulnerability of both the Sena and particularly the NCP in the wake of increased pressure by the Modi-led BJP at the Centre in the form of the actions by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other Central agencies.
“Whatever their outward animosity, the Sena and the BJP can still form a mutually dependent partnership if needed in the near future. This was clear in Mr. Thackeray’s private meeting with Mr. Modi in Delhi on June 8. With the Congress making its stance loud and clear, that leaves the NCP in a fix,” he said.
Snubbing Mr. Patole, Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said only Congress president Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi could decide on the party position in the MVA alliance.
Baiting the Congress, Mr. Raut further said NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was ideally poised to take over the UPA’s leadership and that the Congress risked becoming ‘history’ in many States.