NCP-Cong alliance hinges on Pune

The fate of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance in Maharashtra, and at the national level, hinges on the parties' desire and ability to work out post-poll arrangement in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

The PMC was in the tight grip of NCP chief Sharad Pawar's one-time protégé and city MP Suresh Kalmadi for 15 years. However, both fell apart in the mid-Nineties, with the rise of Pawar's nephew Ajit. Ever since, Pawar and Kalmadi are sworn enemies.

In the 2007 municipal elections, Ajit Pawar had entered the fray with the sole intention of ending Kalmadi's stranglehold. Having achieved this, Ajit Pawar ended up making the NCP the largest party in the PMC.

However, the verdict is so fractured that the Congress and NCP have no choice but to join forces to come to power. In the house of 144, NCP has 42 members, Congress 35, Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena 45, and Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) eight. There are 14 independents and others.

Both, the Congress and NCP, have fought each other in a number of local elections and then come together to share power. But in Pune, Pawar senior's statement during an election rally, that "the NCP will not cooperate with the Congress in Pune even after the elections", is a hitch.

Now Pawar's public posturing is a spanner in the works for both the parties trying for a post-poll arrangement. "When Pawar made the statement, we were really not sure whether we will able to end Kalmadi's rule in the PMC," admitted a senior NCP functionary.

After the elections, Kalmadi hardened his stance by saying that he will prefer to sit in Opposition than go with the NCP.

Pawar junior, however, has softened his position. "We are ready to cooperate with the Congress minus Kalmadi," he said.

"It is not just a question of Pune. Except in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Mumbai, no party has been able to muster a clear-cut majority in other municipal corporations. So we have to decide what should be the terms of the give-and-take between Congress and us in all the remaining seven corporations," a senior NCP minister said.

"Pawarsaheb is coming to Mumbai next week, then all senior ministers of NCP, our state unit president and all of us will sit together and decide our strategy," he added.