The fascinating tale of Sena-NCP-Cong talks

Rasheed Kidwai

Author and journalist

Sonia Gandhi’s gambit in Maharashtra is a masterstroke in realpolitik and a lesson for Rahul Gandhi, who has been, oddly, nowhere in sight throughout the month-long party deliberations on government formation.

It is still unclear whether the BJP’s machinations would ultimately permit the installation of a Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress government. But Sonia, acting as interim AICC chief, has played her cards deftly. She has once again shown why she is a politician among politicians and a first-class graduate from the university of life. From the beginning, she did not want to foreclose the option of denying main rival BJP a chance to form the government in Maharashtra. As the head of the Congress, Sonia was also aware that every elected Congress MLA in Maharashtra wanted to be a part of the Sena-NCP-Congress government. A strong no to the Sena would have led to a revolt within the Congress legislature party. Almost for a fortnight now, Sonia struck a balance between her own inbuilt antipathy for alliance and keeping the party united in Maharashtra.

A closer look at the Sena-NCP-Congress discussions tells a fascinating story. Both Amit Shah and Sharad Pawar have reasons to be surprised by Sonia’s ideological flexibility and her aptitude to get everyone — AK Antony, KC Venugopal and others from the ‘Kerala lobby’ from within the Congress — on board. Also, the ease with which the Congress jumped into the Sena-NCP bandwagon makes one wonder if there was any backroom channel between the Thackerays — Uddhav and Aaditya — on the one side and the Congress on the other. The Sena remained belligerently anti-BJP before and during the Maharashtra Assembly polls while the Congress turned demonstratively inactive in the Mumbai metropolis, ostensibly due to the Milind Deora-Sanjay Nirupam tiff.

As if waiting for a cue, the Sena went on brinkmanship, even as Pawar got into the kingmaker mode. According to those propagating Pawar’s doublespeak theory, the Maratha strongman was reportedly unsure of Sonia and the Congress joining hands with the Sena. Pawar’s dilemma explains why the NCP did not offer any letter of support to the Sena a day before President’s rule was imposed on Maharashtra. To Sonia’s credit, she did not leave Pawar in the lurch. Meeting after meeting, Sonia made it clear to her own party MLAs, Congress Working Committee (CWC) members and the Sena that nothing would happen without Pawar’s consent.

Sonia has come a long way from the foreign bahu tag and has the ability to overrule Rahul, reach out to every non-NDA constituent and act swiftly. She was quick to learn that in the age of coalition politics, alliances were the way forward. Many years ago, Sonia and Mulayam Singh Yadav had attended a dinner at Somnath Chatterjee’s residence. Sonia was tucking into a hilsa when Mulayam took a potshot, saying: “Madam, be careful. Hilsa hai. Kanta chubh jayega (the fish bone may hurt you).” Sonia’s retort was quick: “Main kanton se joojhna janti hoon (I know how to deal with thorns).”

This explains her ties with the DMK, a party which some senior Congress leaders had, in 1997, accused of being soft on the LTTE, Sri Lankan militant outfit to whose bomb Rajiv Gandhi fell. However, since 2004-14, she has displayed a refreshing approach towards allies. There were times when both the SP and BSP were supporting the Manmohan regime and the DMK, ADMK, PDP-NC voted for it.

Her handling of allies and alliance leaders such Pawar, Mayawati, Stalin, Chandrababu Naidu etc has been even better than that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee or PV Narasimha Rao.

Other than Sonia, the spotlight is on NCP supremo Sharad Pawar too. Guided by realpolitik considerations, Pawar is seen as a key player in stitching together an alternative government. Theoretically, the BJP has a chance to rework its alliance with the Sena or tie up with Pawar. The third option of engineering defections is also in the realm of possibility. Pawar is confident of continuing to talk in the abstract and raising ideological issues, common minimum programmes etc in order to keep everyone guessing.

In fact, Pawar’s ability to bowl the doosra has made him a legend of sorts. In other words, the perception of trust deficit has been an important factor in Pawar’s political journey. When young Pawar became Maharashtra Chief Minister for the first time aged just 38 in 1978, he had treacherously toppled the Congress government of Vasantdada Patil. Pawar helped Patil survive a vote of confidence in the House and then drove to Raj Bhawan withdrawing support and informing Governor Sadiq Ali that he was forming a government in coalition with the Janata Party under the banner of the Progressive Democratic Front. Shankarrao Chavan, father of Ashok Chavan, was the Congress Chief Minister from 1975-77 and in the new Pawar ministry, he readily agreed to

serve as a minister.

When the Jain hawala scandal was unearthed, someone asked the then Union Home Minister Shankarrao Chavan how Pawar’s name did not figure in the scam, Chavan said dryly, “Don’t you know all hawala transactions are based on trust?”

It is worth recalling that on May 15, 1999, Pawar had hosted a soiree on the rear lawns of his Gurdwara Rakabganj Road bungalow, which most thought, quite mistakenly, was in celebration of Sonia handing him charge of negotiations with Jayalalithaa and other potential allies. Pawar, in a crisp white bush-shirt, chose to serve burgundy Baramati wine with a tale. “Actually, I told my leader (till then, still Sonia) that I am a visionary because I signed up an Italian collaborator for producing this wine 20 years ago.” He revealed that for the past many years, he had been growing a variety of grape called Sharad Seedless, named after him, and championing the cause of wine.

Two days later, just as everyone in the CWC meet was keen to finalise candidates for thr Goa Assembly polls fast in order to catch up with India’s cricket World Cup opener in England, Sharad Pawar smiled and, along with PA Sangma, with razor-sharp tongue built a case for how the BJP campaign against Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin was seeping deep down to even remote villages. Pawar was thrown out of the Congress, but within six months, his NCP formed a coalition government with Sonia Gandhi-led Congress in Maharashtra.

With such a legacy and performers like Sonia, Amit Shah and Pawar at play, the outcome of the Maharashtra government formation is worth watching every bit of it.