While the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance has managed to pare down rebellion to a large extent, the coming Maharashtra Assembly elections will see candidates of the ruling alliance of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) fighting against rebels from their partner.
This criss-cross rebellion within the Congress and NCP has put 45 to 48 seats of the ruling Congress-NCP democratic front in jeopardy ahead of the October 13 polls.
On one hand, Congress candidates are facing rebellion from NCP leaders in as many as 22 constituencies, while on the other, NCP nominees have been challenged by Congress rebels in almost 25 constituencies. Out of the 288 Assembly seats, the Congress is contesting 174 while the NCP will fight the remaining 114.
Even sincere efforts by top leaders like Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar have failed to curtail the rebellion, making things difficult for the ruling coalition.
Although the rebellion by Congressmen against NCP candidates looks stronger in numbers, the Congress contenders would find it tough to overcome the defiance by influential NCP workers; especially in the western Maharashtra region.
Congress workers are upset with their NCP counterparts and have shared their resentment with the top leadership in this regard. The delayed seat-sharing agreement between the ruling partners resulted into a major rebellion across all the five geographic regions of Maharashtra — Mumbai-Konkan, western Maharashtra, north Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha. Of these, the western Maharashtra region is considered as a pocket-borough of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. This region has seen a number of influential NCP leaders rebelling against Congress candidates. However, the situation in tough for NCP candidates in certain parts of Vidarbha, western Maharashtra and north Maharashtra, where Congress workers have rebelled against their NCP counterparts.
While the top Congress leadership has managed to curtail the intra-party rebellion to a large extent, the cause of concern is the challenge posted by NCP rebels. Out of the 22 crucial NCP rebel opponents, 13 are from western Maharashtra, which might cause severe damage to Congress’s aspirations of emerging as the single-largest party in the state.
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“Top leaders from both parties have discussed this issue over the last two days. The negotiations are on and we expect to convince rebels by Saturday evening. If things are not settled, we will contest elections with a cautious call,” Congress spokesperson Anand Gadgil told Business Standard. The NCP, too, is in favour of resolving the issue at the earliest. “We have prepared the list of NCP rebels against Congress candidates and vice-versa. By Saturday evening, we will try to settle all the issues,” NCP state spokesperson Madan Bafna told Business Standard over phone.
Prominent names from both the parties that face rebellion include Congress minister Patangrao Kadam, who faces opposition from NCP rebel Prithviraj Deshmukh in the Palus constituency; Satej Patil opposed by former NCP minister Digvijay Khanvilkar in Kolhapur; and Madan Bhosale facing rebellion by NCP leader Makarand Patil in Wai.