The Congress would no doubt bear in mind that Sharad Pawar can easily run with the regional parties while hunting with it
It is quite unthinkable that a master of the political game like agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar would be so petulant as to skip a Union Cabinet meeting because he has not been accorded the so-called number two slot in the council of ministers after Pranab Mukherjee left the government to contest the presidential election.
Mr Pawar would doubtless be aware that although the NCP is the Congress Party’s coalition partner in running the Maharashtra government, in the Lok Sabha the party has only nine MPs. Since numbers do matter, it is unlikely that the second slot in government, virtually the post of deputy prime minister, would go to a formation with nine MPs when the lead engine of the alliance, the Congress, commands a count of more than 200 in the Lower House. Even so, Mr Pawar has shown himself to be a long-distance runner and has held most of the top executive posts in the state and the Centre in his long career. As such, he is entitled to respect which is best accorded by accommodating him on policy and by leaving him with the confidence that his home turf in Maharashtra (the sugar cooperatives) is not brought under undue challenge by the Congress. There is another thing — the loaves and fishes of office, in short a share in the disbursement of patronage through the appointment of governors and similar positions.
In respect of all these matters, the NCP has kept its unhappiness just beneath the surface, although echoes of the simmering discontent have been heard from time to time. In truth, the kinds of issues the Maharashtra leader may have in mind should have been thrashed out when the UPA-2 government was being formed three years ago. But unlike in UPA-1, when the Congress’ Left supporters insisted on a coordination committee and a set of agreed policies, the UPA-2 has not seen any written terms of engagement. That is one reason why the Congress has had to watch helplessly as another UPA partner, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress, has continually behaved as a member of the Opposition. Indeed, the behaviour of the Trinamul Congress, NCP and on occasion the DMK are three faces of the evolution of the “coalition dharma” in our politics.
Mr Pawar has had separate meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday and Friday to vent his feelings. This is a positive sign, and he should expect to be accommodated in some measure, although the Congress would no doubt bear in mind that Mr Pawar can easily run with the regional parties while hunting with it. He did this in UPA-1 before pulling back.