New Delhi:
Sharad Pawar has threatened that his party, the NCP, may quit the government and provide external support to the UPA coalition at the centre. In a letter to the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi after he skipped the cabinet meeting last evening, Mr Pawar wrote, "We are a small party. So it doesn't confer stature or respectability.So we need to build up our party for the future. Therefore we need to devote more time to build up our party."
Sources say that Mr Pawar has said that a change in his equation with the Congress at the centre will not affect their alliance in Maharashtra which is less than two years away from choosing its next government. His letter makes it clear that he is upset about much more than not being given the post of second-most senior minister in the cabinet -a vacancy created when Pranab Mukherjee quit the government to run for President of India.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi met Mr Pawar this morning; the Congress was hopeful that the crisis which began on Thursday evening after Mr Pawar and Mr Patel skipped a cabinet meeting would be over by the evening. Instead, Both Mr Pawar and his deputy, Praful Patel, have flown to Mumbai where they will meet their state legislators or MLAs.
Mr Pawar has told the PM and Mrs Gandhi, according to sources, that his party is shown no respect in Maharashtra, and that his legislators feel the chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is from the Congress, is guilty of "inaction" and indecision.
Mr Patel, who is Industries Minister, suggested this afternoon that policy paralysis is affecting the union government too. "We are entering the last two years before the next general elections...we feel that to that effect, the government must also be more decisive, more committed to issues that are before the people of the country," he said. His party's next step, he said, will be decided on Monday.
He refused to confirm whether Mr Pawar and he have sent letters to the Prime Minister offering their resignation from the cabinet. The Prime Minister reached out today with lavish praise for Mr Pawar. He described the minister as "a very valued colleague of mine whose knowledge, wisdom and experience are a great asset to our government."
Mr Patel has blamed the Congress for "unnecessary" comments to the media that have conveyed the impression that Mr Pawar is upset about not being given the status of second-most senior member of the cabinet. After Pranab Mukherjee quit the government to run for President of India, Mr Pawar took his place next to the PM at cabinet meetings till the seating chart was pointedly changed to give that spot to Defence Minister AK Antony. NCP sources say their leaders' dispute with the Congress is far more meaningful and has been building up.
Mr Pawar feels his party has not been consulted about the appointments of governors, or the decision to pick PJ Kurien as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. They say Mr Pawar as Agriculture Minister has also been upset about the government's stand on policies like the export of sugar and milk products.
In Maharashtra, the Congress and NCP are looking for a fourth term in power. The state votes for its next government in 2014. Estranged cousins Raj and Uddhav Thackeray have begun taking steps towards a possible reconciliation. If their parties, the Shiv Sena and the MNS combine with the BJP, the incumbent coalition could have a real fight on its hands.