Anticipating a fractured mandate, the Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP combines have already begun working on a gameplan to woo independents and smaller parties. A day before the counting, Congress and NCP representatives were closetted in a meeting at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who left for Delhi later.Senior NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal along with Sushilkumar Shinde, MPCC chief Prabha Rau, and a few others have been roped in to form a group that would interact with rebels and independents. ‘‘If we require their support, certainly we will approach the rebels and independents,’’ Bhujbal said.In the Sena-BJP camp too, Pramod Mahajan has mobilised a team comprising state BJP chief Gopinath Munde, leader of Opposition Nitin Gadkari, Vinod Tawde and some others to negotiate with smaller constituents. The ruling camp is also reviving contacts with CPM, Janata Dal (Secular) and Samajwadi Party—parties which are expected to win a few seats.‘‘We assessed various possibilities. How many seats the front will win and what could be the extent of outside support,’’ said former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.The Congress-NCP assessment is that 15 to 20 independents and seven-eight candidates from smaller parties will win. ‘‘Most of them are likely to be Congress or NCP rebels. We are in touch with them,’’ Deshmukh added. The key factor, however, will be the number of seats the Congress-NCP manage to win.Both camps have a gameplan to woo rebels, who had played a crucial role in the 1990, 1995 and 1999 elections.According to sources, the Congress has set aside atleast 10 ministerial positions—five of Cabinet and five of MoS rank for the rebels. It hopes to accommodate the rest as heads of state-run enterprises such as the electricity board, etc, which is equivalent to a Cabinet rank.Though the Sena-BJP was yet to decide the exact package, it will be on similar lines.
