The Congress has decided to tread with caution on Nationalist Congress Party chief’s Sharad Pawar offer of an electoral alliance in Gujarat. With Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin issue back on the national agenda, the party is wary of breaking bread with those who raised it in the first place. For the record though, the Congress said it was leaving the matter to the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. Party sources admit this is for public consumption, and the dominant view in the Congress — including leaders like Kamal Nath and Ahmed Patel have been coordinating with Gujarat PCC chief Shankersinh Vaghela — doesn’t want any truck with the NCP. If the foreign origin issue isn’t enough, Pawar has also been fishing in Congress waters in Gujarat, having tied up with its breakaway faction. On the strength of this, the NCP is making steady progress in Saurashtra and has indictated that if there is no tie-up, it would put up candidates in mostly all assembly constituencies. The Congress realises that Pawar has other motives besides Gujarat in calling for an alliance with the Congress. One is his keenness to ensure that the Maharashtra government, in which the NCP and Congress are partners, survives. Pawar is also playing for a bigger role in national politics. As a senior Congressman explains, ‘‘What have people like Sangma and Chandrashekhar to lose by coming out openly against Sonia? Their writ doesn’t run beyond their constituencies. But Pawar is playing for a bigger game .” Congress spokesman S. Jaipal Reddy refused to clarify where things stood between the Congress and NCP, only saying: ‘‘The matter has to be dealt by the state PCC. We also want to ensure there is no split in anti-BJP votes.’’ Asked to react on CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee’s comment that they would have to come out with a common front in Gujarat, Reddy said he was not aware of it.
