Congress climbs down over Pawar

The Congress swallowed its pride today in the interest of realpolitik and chose to disregard Maharashtra state unit chief Ranjit Deshmukh as well as Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's protests that Sharad Pawar could not both continue as a Congress ally and at the same time keep referring to Sonia Gandhi as a foreigner.

Summoned to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi, Ranjit Deshmukh climbed down on the issue of Gandhi's foreign origin saying he had never given any ultimatum to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar nor talked of snapping ties with the coalition partner in the state.

"What I had said was that Pawar speaks one thing in Maharashtra and another outside. So he should clarify and we will consider," Deshmukh told reporters here, recalling what he had said in Mumbai on Saturday.

This is a clear dilution of the stand adopted by the Congress last week When Deshmukh virtually threatened Pawar to stop making anti-Gandhi statements or "face dire consequences".

"No comments," were his reply to a question whether his remarks that he had not issued any ultimatum would mean that there was no crisis to the state government.

To another question about party MP Suresh Kalmadi's demand that it was time to break relations with NCP, Deshmukh said this was the view of the party workers.

The move has manifold implications. As part of a calculated strategy, the Congress is ignoring such outbursts, because making them an issue would give the entire Opposition an issue to rally around.

Today, BJP chief M Venkiah Naidu patted the NCP on the back for saying what everyone was saying: that the Congress has chosen a foreigner as its leader.

However, there is another reason for the Congress to avoid bringing things to the brink in Maharashtra. As things stand today, the Congress government is in a shaky position in the state.

From a deficit of Rs 16,000 crore, the Congress-led Democratic Front government has led the state into a deficit of Rs 38,000 crore. The state has a perpetual overdraft.

According to BJP spokesman Prakash Jawadekar, there is no better time for the BJP-Shiv Sena to strike in Maharashtra on the issue of misgovernance.

Also, the voting pattern in Maharashtra indicates the number of seats won by the Congress will plummet if the party does not ally with the NCP.

In the 1995 Assembly elections, with 30 per cent of the vote, the BJP-Shiv Sena won 139 seats and the Congress with 31 per cent of the vote got 84 seats. This was when the Congress was undivided and Pawar had not yet left the party.

By contrast in the 1999 Assembly elections, the BJP won 31 per cent of the vote but got 130 seats. But the Congress, just seven per cent down at 24 per cent of the votes, got only 75 seats ""that is around half.

The NCP with just 22 per cent of the vote got 58 seats. So clearly, the Congress will find itself decimated if it contests elections without a seat adjustment with the NCP.

At the same time, letting the issue of Gandhi's foreign origins drag on uncontested could take its toll on discipline in the party as disgruntled elements are likely to use this issue to explain setbacks in any election.

Today, Deshmukh said a decision on continuing the relationship with NCP will have to be taken by the Congress high command.