The public show of dissent against Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and ugly protests at a party conclave in Mumbai on Thursday have added to the woes of the Congress, which is struggling to restore its dipping fortunes in many states ahead of Lok Sabha elections next year.Maharashtra has been ruled by the Congress since its formation in 1960, except for two years from 1978 when Sharad Pawar toppled the Vasantdada Patil government to form the Progressive Democratic Front, and between 1995 and 1999 when the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was in power. So group rivalries and revolts are not new to the party in the state.There have been major upheavals like Pawar forming the PDF in 1978. Rajiv Gandhi took Pawar back into the Congress in 1986 and made him chief minister in 1988. Pawar broke away from the party to form the NCP in 1999, objecting to Sonia’s foreign origin. He split the party, taking most of the rich and powerful Marathas with him. As is its wont, the Congress high command has regularly played one party faction in the state against the other. For decades, it has ensured that the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief and the chief minister belong to different groups.Hence, when Deshmukh became the chief minister in 2004, there were already some groups—including MPCC chief Prabha Rau’s—lined up against him. To make matters worse for him, former chief minister and Shiv Sena leader Narayan Rane quit the party to join Congress in 2005 and engineered the defections of seven Sena MLAs (six of whom got re-elected on Congress tickets). Rane’s move made the Congress the single-largest party in the assembly—increasing its strength from 69 to 75 (four more than the NCP)—making him the blue-eyed boy of Deshmukh’s detractors and the high command. However, Deshmukh remained unperturbed and neither expanded his cabinet, which political observers say was to avoid accommodating Rane’s men, nor made political appointments to the 50-odd state-run corporations, driving Rane to desperation. Rau, then, appointed seven fact-finding committees on various problems like farmers’ suicides, malnutrition and the power crisis. The panels criticised the Deshmukh government for poor governance. In August last year, the high command sent Margaret Alva and Siddharth Patel to the state. They held a series of meetings with senior state leaders, but achieved little and Deshmukh continued to enjoy the backing of the high command. This was manifested even in the choice of nominees for the recent legislative council polls—Deshmukh had an upper hand, while Rane was helpless.The faction-ridden party has been saying that ministers do not respond to their grievances, while Deshmukh’s supporters have been saying that the party has failed to project the achievements of the government and reach out to the people. This has led to demands for a change of guard in the government and the party.Although Rane is known to be in a hurry to replace Deshmukh, some political observers are surprised by the trouble at the party conclave on Thursday and say that he may not be the mastermind, especially when he has been asked by the high command to lie low for a while. Key playersVilasrao Deshmukh, the second longest serving chief minister of Maharashtra after Vasantrao Naik, hails from Marathwada region and has been groomed in politics by former Union minister, the late S.B. Chavan, who was a bitter critic of Sharad Pawar. That makes Deshmukh not particularly popular among the NCP, but he has his ways of patching up with people. But Rane has been a bother for some time nowSushilkumar Shinde: He was made the chief minister in January 2003 — on the eve of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls — but removed after the polls and replaced with Deshmukh. He is a Dalit leader and his supporters feel that the party has adopted the policy of “use and throw” with him. BSP chief Mayawati predicted in a rally in Mumbai last year that Shinde would again be made the chief minister on the eve of the polls as the Congress would want a Dalit to be either the chief minister or the MPCC chief.Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil: A senior Congressman who had deserted the party to join the Shiv Sena and become a Union minister in the NDA government is back in the Congress. Sonia’s rally on Thursday in Loni (Ahmednagar) was organised by him. He runs an empire of co-operatives in the district and may replace Rau as the MPCC chief.Narayan Rane: Once a close aide of Bal Thackeray, he left the Shiv Sena to join the Congress in 2005 and became the revenue minister in the Deshmukh cabinet. He was the chief minister of the Sena-BJP government in 1999 and nurses the ambition of replacing Deshmukh.Prabha Rau: The president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee and a former minister, she has been supporting Rane. She formed party committees that submitted reports last year criticising the Deshmukh government for poor governance. Rau may opt for a governorship in the future. Ashok Chavan: Son of former Union minister late S.B. Chavan, Ashok is the industries minister in the Deshmukh cabinet and is emerging as a major leader in the Marathwada region to which Deshmukh belongs. Margaret Alva: She is the AICC in-charge of the state and is critical of Deshmukh on the issue of pending political appointments. Deshmukh has not moved on many areas since 2004, including cabinet expansion and appointments to state-run corporations. She and Rau are said to have encouraged Rane.
