Cong-NCP merger calls baffle partymen

MUMBAI: So what���s cooking between Cong and NCP? As both alliance partners are preparing to take on each other in the coming municipal elections across Maharashtra, a call from two senior Congressmen to Sharad Pawar inviting him back to the party has baffled party workers.

More than the intent, what has flummoxed the workers of both parties is the timing of the invite. The move is seen as a part of the Congress���s calculated strategy to undermine Mr Pawar���s already-low credibility just ahead of elections. Interestingly, one of the two invitations is from a known Pawar baiter while the other enjoys good rapport with him.

Last week, Prithiviraj Chavan, the minister of state in the PMO, asked Mr Pawar to wind up his party and come back to the Congress. ���Mr Pawar left the Congress raising the issue of Sonia Gandhi���s leadership. Since Mr Pawar now has accepted her as a leader, the issue no longer exists. So there is no justification for Mr Pawar to stay away from the Congress,��� he said while addressing a meeting at his hometown Karad in western Maharashtra.

Mr Chavan, whose equation with Mr Pawar is not exactly comfortable, reminded him of his recent interview to an overseas news service where in he ���admitted his mistake��� of opposing Ms Gandhi in ���99. Mr Pawar citing Sonia���s foreign origin raised a flag of revolt and walked out of the party to float his own outfit the Nationalist Congress Party.

Later though he contested elections against Sonia-led Congress, Mr Pawar���s NCP formed an alliance with Congress to share power, first in Maharashtra and later in Delhi. So much so that he joined the UPA chaired by Ms Gandhi to become a minister in the Manmohan Singh government.

Mr Chavan questioned the rationale of the NCP. ���Since the issue raised by Mr Pawar doesn���t exist by his own admission, he better join the Congress,��� he said.

A couple of days later former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh too echoed similar sentiments. Mr Singh, who continues to be closer to Mr Pawar though he later parted ways, too aired similar views like Mr Chavan. ���There is no need for Mr Pawar to keep his party alive. He better join the Congress,��� Mr Singh said.

Mr Singh went to the extent of asking Mr Pawar to merge his outfit with Congress. According to him, there was some ���misunderstanding��� that forced Mr Pawar to quit the party. ���Now since that reason doesn���t exist, what���s the point in keeping a separate identity,��� Mr Singh said.

The appeal for calling Mr Pawar home comes at a time when talks between the two parties over an alliance ended on a bitter note and both parties are now gunning for each other in the forthcoming elections in the state.