Will NCP form govt with Sena-BJP?

Rumours suggest party may, if Congress doesn't meet 50-50 berth-sharing demand

Even before Congress and NCP leaders sat down yesterday to thrash out the finer points of berth sharing, rumours were rife that the NCP was threatening to look for other options to form the government if the Congress doesn't meet its demands.

One of the options, said a source, is that the NCP would form a government in alliance with the Shiv Sena and the BJP in a repeat of the experiment carried by Sharad Pawar in 1978 (see box).

It has also been rumoured that NCP's Ajit Pawar would leave the party with 55 MLAs and try to form a government with the BJP-Sena.

'Pressure tactics'

Congressmen claim that these rumours are floated by NCP to use as a pressure tactic in negotiations.

"Sharad Pawar had used pressure tactics like this even before the Lok Sabha elections.
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There is nothing new and the NCP cannot afford to align with these parties," said a Congress leader.

But the NCP denied this. "The NCP has not threatened the Congress in any way," said NCP spokesperson Dinkar Tawde.

No secret

It's no secret that the Congress is looking at garnering a larger share of berths in the 44-member cabinet and also important portfolios.

Tawde said, "The Congress is coming up with a new formula, but insist on the 1999 formula, where the Congress had 75 seats, while the NCP had 58, but the ministerial berths were shared 50/50."

In 1978...

Sharad Pawar, then in the Congress, felled the state government led by Vasantdada Patil when Indira Gandhi became unpopular due to her imposition of Emergency in 1975.
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Walking out with a group of followers, he formed the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) with several other small parties in the Opposition and became the state's youngest chief minister at 38.

The PDF government was dismissed in 1980 after Gandhi came back to power.