Governor will try to clear the Maha mess

Alexander will be hoping to find a solution to the problem in the next few days as the deadline for constituting the new Assembly is October 21. Should his efforts also fail, he would have to recommend imposition of President’s Rule. But Alexander will have time only till about October 18 to decide because the procedure for imposition of President’s Rule takes about three days.

The Governor stepped in because the major parties made little progress throughout the day. In fact, it was only after the gubernatorialinvitations landed that both the groupings — Congress-NCP and Sena-BJP — showed some inclination to get together. The Congress and the NCP which called each other names during the day, quickly announced they would meet again late on Thursday night to tie-up the loose ends of their forever-happening alliance. The Sena and the BJP which were not on talking terms through the day — following Bal Thackeray’s blasting of the BJP on Wednesday night — and were planning to meet the Governor separately decided to go to him jointly.

Earlier in the day State Congress president Prataprao Bhosale pre-empted a press meet called by NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal at 3.30 pm by making his case public an hour earlier.

According to Bhosale, all was decided on Wednesday night: the chief minister would be from the Congress and the Deputy CM from NCP. The Speaker’s post would also be part of the Congress cake and there was agreement in the allotment of key portfolios. However, the NCP was creating obstacles by creating troubleover “petty” seats.

Reacting sharply, an hour later Bhujbal virtually called Bhosale a liar. Bhujbal made it plain that except for the basic condition regarding the chief minister and the deputy nothing was settled. Bhujbal alleged that the Congress had unilaterally prepared a list of portfolios to be distributed between them. The list contained three sections, he said. One section contained the portfolios to be held by the Congress, another those to be held by the NCP and the third a list of “negotiable” portfolios, implying that the Congress was being intransigent with respect to key berths. Bhosale’s tone earlier was conciliatory and indulgent when he said that the Congress had “forgotten” the past and Congress President Sonia Gandhi had given the green signal for the alliance. However, according to sources the high command’s directive to the State Congress was very clear: The mandate for Congress was to form a secular government and to achieve this the Congress should be more accommodative of theNCP’s demands.

Bhujbal, on the other hand, stepped up pressure by insisting that the allotment of portfolios should be on the lines adopted by the Sena-BJP coalition and all the portfolios held by Munde should go to the NCP. Bhujbal also held out the threat that the talks could break down. The threat was implicit in the answer to a question whether the NCP had kept its options open with respect to a tie-up with the BJP. Bhujbal neither confirmed nor denied.

For the Sena-BJP the day started even worse. The rift between the two parties grew wider with both of them remaining mostly incommunicado. The 11-year alliance seemed headed for doom on other fronts too with three Sena ministers in the Centre staying away from office on instructions from Thackeray. The absentee ministers were Manohar Joshi (Heavy Industries), Suresh Prabhu (Chemicals and Fertilisers) and Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil (Minister of State for Finance).

The discord was aggravated with the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Dopahar ka Saamna, claimingthat the three ministers may even resign and the party may extend outside support to BJP-led government at the Centre. “Yes, all’s not well. The situation took a bad turn after Bal Thackeray’s stinging statement yesterday against the BJP. We will not be surprised if ties snap,” a senior BJP minister said.

The BJP launched a massive damage-control exercise with party president, Kushabhau Thakre and Home Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, trying unsuccessfully to reach Thackeray. But Thakre has apparently advised Munde to keep his counsel and not go public on anything, something which Munde adhered to.

At a high-level meeting of senior BJP officers in Mumbai some of them expressed strong displeasure at Thackeray’s statement saying it was uncalled for since Pramod Mahajan had accepted the leadership of Narayan Rane. On the other hand, a Shiv Sena cabinet member squarely blamed the BJP for the ongoing crisis saying it was all because of the ambition of Gopinath Munde. Both parties admitted their efforts atgovernment formation have almost collapsed: “While the negotiations between the Congress and NCP are in full swing, neither Rane nor Munde has made any effort in that direction yesterday and today,” said a BJP minister.

Thackeray is upset with the BJP for two reasons. Firstly, the BJP’s secret talks with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and secondly, denial of chosen portfolios for three Sena leaders. Thackeray had staked claim for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Telecommunications and Civil Aviation departments. But none of these portfolios was awarded to any of the Sena nominees.