The Hindu : National : NCP hardens stand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004

National

National

NCP hardens stand

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, OCT. 18. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has hardened its position on the Chief Ministership question in Maharashtra by making it clear that it will stay out of the government if the Congress insists on retaining the post. "We will sit out and support them," the NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, said.

The NCP's message was first conveyed to the Congress through its interlocutor, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, at the end of the second round of talks with Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president and her pointman in the ongoing negotiations with the NCP. Today, Mr. Pawar endorsed his colleague's view saying that if the Congress insisted on Chief Ministership for itself, his party would prefer to keep out of the government and support it from outside. Mr. Pawar also reiterated his party's position that the Congress "honour the agreement" reached between the two sides after the 1999 Assembly elections in Maharashtra. "We ran a Government for five years on the basis of that agreement. The Government in Karnataka was formed on the same basis; now to disown the agreement will not be proper," he said.

The Congress and the NCP have authorised Mr. Ahmed Patel and Mr. Praful Patel to put their heads together and work out a solution to the issue that is holding up the government formation process in the State. The initial agreement was that the party with the higher number of MLAs would head the Government, while the Deputy Chief Minister, the Speaker and portfolios such as Home, Finance, PWD, Rural Development, Energy, Health and Higher Education would go to the junior partner.

Though the parties contested the 1999 Assembly elections separately, they joined hands to form the Government and the Congress, by virtue of being the larger party, headed it. This time, though the NCP contested fewer seats, it won 71, two more than the Congress.

Mr. Pawar and the entire NCP leadership are on record stating that the Chief Minister would be from the Congress if it won even a single seat more. However, the results have created a piquant situation. The NCP is basically a Maharashtra party and having emerged as the largest group, it cannot just give up the Chief Ministership. "Maharashtra is our base. If we chuck the opportunity to lead the government how will we explain it to the people," a senior NCP leader asked.

The NCP leadership, however, remains hopeful of an early resolution to the issue. "It is not a big issue. I am sure we will be able resolve it within the next few days," Mr. Pawar said.

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