MUMBAI, January 16: The Maharashtra Congress, under threat from the alleged caprice of former Himachal Pradesh governor Sudhakarrao Naik, appears to have finally settled a contentious issue.Amid exhortation of a section of partymen to deny Naik a ticket altogether and Naik's own alleged threats to align with the Sena-BJP combine, the State Congress has reached a compromise.Naik has been persuaded to give up his insistence on contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections from Yavatmal. The Pradesh Congress Committee in turn will accord him unfettered support from Washim, which was until now one of the seats being considered as an offer to the Republican Party of India.Maratha warlord Sharad Pawar is said to have brokered the compromise on his flying visit to the metropolis, arriving from New Delhi last night and scheduled to return on Saturday. In between, through much of the night and most of the day, he consulted with colleagues and party workers over the various bumps and burps that the State Congress now appears to be facing over the distribution of party tickets, both among those already awarded and those yet to be announced.The most troublesome of these was obviously the candidature of Naik. According to informed sources in the Congress, Naik has been allegedly frequently throwing out the possibility of joining the Sena-BJP alliance if he was not given a constituency of his choice. His threats have been given substance by the hinting of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde that a few more heavy-weight Congress leaders are likely to join the BJP before the end of nominations to the Lok Sabha, Naik was names as one of them.The former Chief Minister was said to be eyeing Yavatmal as a safer seat vis-a-vis Washim which he lost the last time round, upsetting Pawar's calculations vis-a-vis the Maharashtra Assembly elections which are due in just over a year.``The attempt is to see that the Banjara and other votes in these constituencies are not upset by the caprice of certain leaders. More important than the current Lok Sabha, to Pawar it is the next Assembly elections that have greater significance. Voters in the various assembly segments cannot be alienated,'' one observer said.However, the night long consultations seem to have paid off. For Naik has climbed down from his high horse and decided that he is joining neither the Sena nor the BJP. And that he will stay put in Washim.``No, I will not contest from Yavatmal,'' he told The Indian Express. ``I will run from Washim again. And this time I am confident that the kind of unity that is emerging will ensure that I win the seat,'' Naik said.He also denied that he was seeking support of the Sena-BJP to further his political opportunities.The confidence comes from the fact that one of his conditions to desist from trouble-making for the Congress is that party leaders should ensure his victory from wherever he contests. Naik had earlier attributed his 1996 defeat to Sharad Pawar who was accused of having manipulated muscle and money power to ensure that the traditional Naik family stronghold voted against a scion.Among the other shocks that Pawar tried to deflect during his brief visit to the city was that rendered by the unilateral decision of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) with regard to renominating all the sitting MPs when the PEC had recommended several changes.Among these were the dropping of Kalappa Awhade from Ichalkaranji, Sandeepan Thorat from Pandharpur and shifting of Datta Meghe to Wardha from Ramtek. While the first two have been renominated, Meghe has been asked to stay put in Ramtek against the recommendation that the seat be given to Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranjit Deshmukh this time round. He insists on moving to Wardha. It is not known if the party High command will ultimately concur.Finding suitable candidates for Khed and Pune are other headaches. While Pune's sitting MP Suresh Kalmadi is now virtually in the Saffron camp, the sitting MP from Khed has refused to contest again.
