An uneasy relationship

The Congress and the NCP are allies both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, with an uneasy arrangement keeping the clock ticking.

The Congress and the NCP are allies both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, with an uneasy arrangement keeping the clock ticking. However, the two parties have been unable to keep this arrangement going at the grassroots level.

The rift between workers of the two parties has been widening ever since the NCP tied up with saffron parties to gain control of local civic bodies. The party8217;s Pune model8212;when it forged a post-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena and sought the covert support of the BJP to come to power in the Pune Municipal Corporation PMC last year8212;has inspired the NCP to try it again for the upcoming Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation polls.

The NCP has a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, the Janata Dal S and the Peasants and Workers Party PWP for the civic elections while the Congress is contesting on its own. The NCP8217;s alliance with the BJP for the civic polls in Sangli is led by state Finance Minister Jayant Patil.

8220;Those in alliance with us at Centre and the state have been joining hands with saffron parties to suppress the Congress at the local level. Party workers should be careful,8221; said Margaret Alva, AICC general secretary and in charge of party affairs in the state.

State Congress chief Prabha Rau too said, 8220;I have repeatedly pointed out to the party high command that the NCP has been harassing Congress workers at local levels through out the state.8221; The 8220;so called8221; ally rides on the popularity of the Congress but ditches it at the local level, she said.

The Congress too has been flirting with saffron parties at the local level. If the NCP has forged alliances with saffron parties in 18 local civic bodies in the state, the Congress has joined hands with the Shiv Sena or the BJP in 25 local civic bodies.

Refuting the allegations, state NCP chief Arun Gujarati says the relationship between workers of both parties is cordial in most parts of the state. 8220;In fact, it is the statements of Congress leaders against the NCP that is creating bitterness among workers of both the parties,8221; he said, adding that party leaders can sit together to bring workers of both parties closer.

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8220;The Congress and the NCP are independent political parties. Each party wants to maintain their individual identity at the local level,8221; Pune city NCP chief Jaideo Gaikwad said.

Senior leaders of the two parties might not admit to it, but party workers say they are finding it increasingly difficult to campaign for each others8217; candidates.

If doubts about the longevity of the alliance have kept the party workers on tenterhooks, the leaders too have contributed to the confusion with regular messages to the workers to prepare independently for the upcoming polls.

If Prabha Rau8217;s recent statement on the Congress preparing to contest the assembly and Lok Sabha polls on its own and the NCP claiming to 8220;prepare for every situation8221; are all part of a strategy to keep the Opposition confused, then they would perhaps do well to spare a thought for their own party workers, who are finding it difficult to tell the ally from the opponent.