The Congress has been aware of its nuisance value ever since it became part of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra in 2019, but it followed restraint even as its member ministers and organisational workers accused the other alliance partners of treating them with inequality, and raised voices against unwarranted criticism of their party’s top leadership. However, recent developments show that the Congress has made up its mind to play hard and get as much in bargain with the alliance partners. The Congress’s decision of creating a vacancy of the Assembly Speaker’s post has, for the time being, unsettled the alliance. There are mixed thoughts in the Congress. Some want the party to retain the Speaker’s office; some want the Speaker’s post to be bartered for the deputy chief minister’s office; and some want both the DCM’s and Speaker’s offices. All of a sudden, a sublime aggression has replaced a subdued spirit in the Congress camp which last week got a new state unit president in a fiery Nana Patole, who had been the Speaker since inception of the MVA government.

Showdown if not sorted
Quite a showdown it is going to be if not negotiated properly, because the Congress’s alliance partners aren’t too interested in giving it more than what was agreed on in 2019. What’s more, big brother, the Nationalist Congress Party, has kept up the pressure, arguing that the Speaker’s post is now open to all and it should be discussed before deciding the beneficiary. The NCP and Shiv Sena have said that the Congress shouldn’t have asked the Speaker to resign ahead of the Budget Session which starts on March 1. A hard-hitting editorial in Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna said the Congress was given the office for five years and it shouldn’t have vacated it at this point of time because it necessitated the elections which should have been avoided by any alliance government. It also added that the MVA should be careful about not letting the Speaker’s election impact its majority, the Assembly and the government.  It supported NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s view that the three coalition partners would take decisions on the Speaker’s post through negotiations. So, it is now evident that the NCP wouldn’t take the Congress lying down and the Sena would follow suit. In all probability, the Sena and NCP might try to get the Speaker’s election postponed. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has suggested that like in Madhya Pradesh,  the Deputy Speaker could be allowed to officiate until a new Speaker is elected. Will the Congress agree?