NCP-SP front 8212; Adding Pawar to Third Force

He has also been in touch with the leaders of the Forward Bloc and the RSP and they have responded positively.The Forward Bloc has written him saying that they would be interested in talking to him if he is not going to align with the Congress and the BJP. The CPI told Pawar that they would first discuss the matter with its ally,the CPM.

Pawar assured Bardhan that the new Front would be committed to fighting both the Congress and the BJP. Unlike the CPM,the CPI is not soft towards the Congress, but it would not like to break the Left unity.

Pawar told The Indian Express today, quot;There is simply no question of our going with the BJP either in the Lok Sabha elections or in he Assembly polls in Maharashtra. My politics and that of Mulayam depends on defeating the BJP and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the BJP in UP.quot;

For the moment the CPM and the RJD have put their weight behind the Congress.

The announcement of a new front today has dealt a blow to the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and heralds the delinking of the two Yadavs of north India, Mulayam and Laloo, even though the SP chief expressed the hope that he would be able to bring around the RJD chief to joining hands with him.

The nationality issue of Sonia Gandhi has also driven wedge in the Left front.

Pawar8217;s strategy appears to be two fold. One, to get a national party status for his NCP. He will have to get 6 pc votes in four states to manage this and he is hopeful of doing this in Maharashtra and the states of the North East.

Two, he would like the new front to get 40-50 seats, so that it could hold the balance in government formation in the 13th Lok Sabha. If that happens, his yet to be named Front can offer to give issue based support to the Congress Party provided Sonia Gandhi is not the leader. This could be a tricky one for Sonia. Sticking on to the leadership could expose her. For the moment Pawar8217;s objective is not so much prime ministership as to block Sonia Gandhi.

Few contest that Pawar is all set to spoil the Congress8217; chances in Maharashtra. The more important question is the number of seats he himself is going to garner, and the extent to which quot;Marathi asmitaquot; Marathi pride is going to catch on. He has been talking of the way the Centre has given short shrift to Maharashtra right from the days of Amebedkar, C D Deshmukh, Y B Chavan, Vasantdada Patil to himself, underscoring the point that he was thrown out of the party simply for raising the question that only an Indian born person should become the country8217;s prime minister.

Pawar8217;s hunting ground will be the sugar belt comprising 18 Lok Sabha seats of Western Maharashtra and 8 of Marathwada, which account for much of the sugar belt in the state. He has managed to get the leadership of the cooperative movement to support him, though the Congress alleges that he has done this more out of fear, since the important Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank is now controlled by his nephew Ajit Pawar.

The Congress is hoping to get most of the 11 seats in Vidarbha area, which was at one time part of the Central Provinces and has traditionally been partial to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

It does not seem likely that either the Telugu Desam or the Trinamool Congress would go with the Pawar-Mulayam led Front before the elections. What happens after the polls is anybody8217;s guess and will depend on the arithmetic that the 13th Lok Sabha throws up.