Parties get edgy

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, MAY 18. It is a curious turn indeed in Maharashtra's politics. Partners in alliances, whether in the ruling establishment or the Opposition, are fighting each other even as the normal viciousness that marks the rivals' attitude to each other is markedly absent. It is as though the intra-alliance rows are more important than the inter- alliance grappling.

Take the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Contrary to their normal rounds of murmurs, they have begun to look at the options before them vis-a-vis each other and are moving towards reinventing themselves. The BJP wants to ``be 100 per cent'' of itself while the Sena is seeking to go back to its earlier, street-fighting incarnation.

The Congress(I) and the Nationalist Congress Party, on the other hand, find that they are tied to each other and to seven other parties and several independents in a marriage of convenience to run a coalition Government in the State, but outside find the relationship bitter. The Congress(I) did not hesitate in cosying up to the BJP or the Shiv Sena for control over local bodies, but the NCP worsted such designs.

Of course, these two parties have been engaging in a war of words, with the NCP demanding that the coordination committee of the multi-party alliance be called forthwith to discuss the Congress(I)'s penchant for such relationships with the former enemy, to keep out which the two unlikely parties came together to form a Government. Mr. Sharad Pawar has mocked the Congress(I), saying its penchant for the Sena is perhaps a ``principled stand... To keep away from the Sena is our principled stand.''

The BJP, always uncomfortable in the company of the Sena - but for the fact that they need each other to perhaps return to power some day - has said that it would keep fighting it outside the arena of legislative politics to grow on its own. It wants to know how far it can go, even if it be at the expense of its ally.

That was, in short, the substance of the policy chalked out at Nashik where the BJP's State executive met recently.

Sena revives old theme

The Sena is going back to its `Fight for Maharashtrian rights' theme, having launched a blistering campaign through its Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti (Local People's Rights Group), a front which had secured for the party white-collar support in the past. This Samiti has now targeted banks - not against Tamils, but Biharis and those who hail from Uttar Pradesh.

A campaign is round the corner to force the signboards of all establishments, especially shops, to be put up only in Marathi, the logic being other States too prefer local languages. That Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city with aspirations to international status is being lost sight of; the Sena itself had tried to promote such an image during its four-and-half-year stint at power.

All these point to a restlessness in the political crucible, where no political party is happy with what it has. While the ruling Democratic Front combination can barely keep itself in power, the two saffron parties are not able to make common cause to bid to return to power.

The BJP is conscious of the risks it is taking in pushing the theory of growing on its own beyond a point. Snapping ties with the Sena would jeopardise the Vajpayee Government at the Centre, especially now that Mr. Bal Thackeray has faulted, along with Mr. Vaiko (MDMK), the NDA Government for its anti-LTTE attitude. Therefore, a ready explanation could be that the BJP is pushing the ``to power by ourselves'' line more for the consumption of its cadres, but may not actually decide to break up with its partner. In fact, this is only symptomatic of the internal tension within the alliance.

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Section  : Other States
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