Crisis manager

Pawar’s good office was used even before the Congress-led UPA government could be formed. There was a tense, 24 hours that led up to the appointment of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and Pawar had aggrieved parties arriving at his door.

The first to knock at Pawar’s door was a sullen Laloo Yadav, who believed he was being denied his stature in the Cabinet. Laloo Yadav claimed he had a formidable 21 MPs in the alliance, and demanded a weighty representation, not only as the second-largest party but also for his steadfast loyalty to Sonia Gandhi’s leadership.

As talks between the UPA partners looked set to fail, and with a belligerent Laloo Yadav threatening to give only outside support, he finally enlisted the support of Pawar to conduct negotiations with the Congress.

The day saw Congress leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel, R.K. Dhawan confabulating with Pawar and Laloo, which finally ended in a whimper. Though Laloo Yadav sullenly accepted his fate, the day ended without any embarrassment to the UPA alliance.

So much so, it was yet another sulking leader, the RPI(A)’ chief, Ramdas Athavale, who arrived at Pawar’s door. ‘‘Our party certainly deserved a berth in the Cabinet but so far no intimation has been received by us. Pawar has recommended my name to the Congress and the party should consider it,” said Athavale.