Party presents a brave front

Senior Congressmen, cutting across all party factions denied that his exit would engineer a split within the state unit of the party, though they admitted that there could be further "individual exits". Among the names mentioned are those of sitting MPs Praful Patel and Madan Patil as well as Suryakanta Patil, all close Pawar supporters, who are already having trouble in securing a Congress ticket for the coming polls.

However, according to Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni, "The Congress in Maharashtra is united today as never before in the last decade. As for the exodus from the party, this is not the first time it has happened. We faced it in 1977 and again in 1989. But we bounced back, nevertheless. We shall do so again." There are, however, disbelieving snorts from among his own partymen at this optimism. "Groupism still prevails in the party. It may be one body but there are several souls/hearts beating different rhythms here," said one dissenting Congressman. Kripa Shankar Singh, MPCC general secretary known to be close to party president Sitaram Kesri, also sees Kalmadi’s exit as the continuing process of what he describes as jhatkas that the party is receiving. But this, he says, merely "exposes the nexus between these MPs and the BJP that built up before the dissolution of the Lok Sabha". "Some more Congressmen ranged against the party from the beginning are likely to exit but it will not lead to the break-up of the Congress in Maharashtra," he asserts.

This is a feeling that runs through the rank and file of the party for, while Congressmen do not quite say it, the only leader capable of splitting the party in the State today is former Chief Miniser Sharad Pawar. According to reliable sources within the party, he is under tremendous pressure from among his acolytes to form a "Regional Maharashtra Congress" as these supporters are convinced that federalism will still have a role to play in the 12th Lok Sabha, even if the BJP leads the next coalition government.

These Pawar supporters are of the view that "when relative newcomers like Chandrababu Naidu could call the shots in the UF government, Pawar deserved a better deal given his years of experience".

However, informed sources said that Pawar was unlikely to split the Congress – just yet. He is said to have computed a detailed analysis of the party’s chances at the coming elections and hopes that with the efforts at seat adjustments with the secular parties to ensure a one-to-one contest against the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance underway, he might yet manage to clear a couple of dozen out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

"That would give him the maximum leverage among all the Congress satraps as Maharashtra is the third largest State in terms of LS seats," said one Pawar acolyte.

Pawar, he said, would rather use his victory as a bargaining chip with the next coalition government than jeopardise his chances at this late date with a new party that few would have heard of. And if the Cong leadership attempts to cut him down to size, he might well form a "Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi" with a clear-cut regional profile to combat the Sena which the BJP might be only too pleased to endorse. Kalmadi’s PVA could then merge with it: after all Pimpri-Chinchwad is major and a crucial segment of Pawar’s Baramati.