The current mood in the Congress is of going it alone in the coming local body elections in Maharashtra after realising that dissolution of board of directors of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank has come as a bad omen for the NCP.
While chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is openly backing the dissolution of the board of directors saying that the bank is not a private property of anyone, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar feared that it was a political decision taken at the instance of the Congress.
The two allies sharing power in the state since 1999 seem to be feeling uncomfortable for different reasons.
The coming local body elections are seen as the mini state Assembly polls. The Congress is optimistic of a better performance after cleansing the party by removing Mr Ashok Chavan from the chief ministership over the Adarsh housing scam in Mumbai and suspending its MP Suresh Kalmadi in the CWG scam. It is ready to take on the saffron combine and the ally NCP in these polls.
The NCP seems to be getting isolated on this issue of dissolution of board of directors of the state coperative bank with the main Opposition, the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, making Mr Ajit Pawar its main target of attack and pressing for his resignation.
Congress insiders see the coming municipal corporation and zila parishad elections as an opportunity to regain lost ground in the NCP-dominated districts.
Significantly, the language of the Congress-NCP is also changing. Earlier, their main target was the “communal forces” but this time, their priority is to get more political space not only in rural areas, but in the urban parts also, including the BirhanMumbai Municipal Corporation election.
A third alternative in the state has become redundant. It has been lacking a leader, organisation and appeal.
In a related development, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale, who has moved closer to the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, on Wednesday said: “In 1999, the NCP was formed opposing the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi. Sharad Pawar was expelled from the Congress. But within two months, the two parties joined hands to form the government in the state and showed that they can go to any extent of compromise for the sake of power.”
On the raging controversy surrounding the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, Mr Athawale said: “It would not be proper only to blame deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar for the crisis.”