File photo: Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan
The soft-spoken Maharashtra chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan delivered a hard message to longtime partner Nationalist Congress Party or NCP today, declaring that it must "respect" the Congress for their alliance to continue. (
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"We will not compromise with our self-respect. If we don't get respect, we will not go in for an alliance. We will then fight on our own," said Mr Chavan.
Talks on sharing seats for the Assembly election due in October have run into rough weather with Sharad Pawar's NCP refusing to play junior partner anymore. It has said it wants to contest half of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. (
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"144 seats or we can contest alone too," said Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is NCP chief Sharad Pawar's nephew, recently.
The Congress believes that is a preposterous demand and Mr Chavan's riposte is meant to be a serious warning.
Talks held in Mumbai late last night ended in both parties sticking to their respective stands.
Asked to respond on Mr Chavan's latest salvo, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, "It is for the Congress to decide what they want to do. We are clear that the Congress is weak just now and if they contest 174 seats, then it will be to the BJP-Shiv Sena's advantage. Do they want that?" (
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The partners have quibbled before on seat sharing through the 15 years that they have ruled Maharashtra, but this time there is a distinct edge to their tone, coming as the elections do soon after the alliance was whitewashed in the general elections held in May. The Congress-NCP combine could win only six of Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha seats.
The BJP, whose five-party alliance in the state had won 42 seats, is looking to win the assembly elections in Maharashtra too.
Faced with a fight for survival in one of the few states it still rules, and beset also by rebellion within, the Congress said today that it will declare its first list of candidates for the state elections by August 7. With or without the NCP.
However, before every election, the two allies have always quibbled but ultimately reached an understanding. Though NCP sources say this is only a pressure tactic, the reality is if the alliance comes to an end, it would be a bigger loss for Sharad Pawar's party.