MUMBAI, April 26: As political parties get into the election mode, the Congress in Maharashtra is faced with a unique dilemma: how does it repeat the success of 1998 - 37 out of the 48 seats - without the alliance formula that helped it stage a victorious comeback last year.The then winning combination of Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Republican Party of India (RPI) lies in tatters. Both the Congress and SP have declared their antipathy for each other with Congress president Sonia Gandhi even saying it was `not ready to pardon' after its efforts to garner sufficient numbers for forming a minority government at the centre failed largely due to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The alliance that was forged by the goodwill and personal equation between Sharad Pawar and Mulayam Singh Yadav came unstuck within months as the SP realised that it had been ``used''.State SP leaders Abu Asim Azmi and Hussain Dalwai held a series of meetings with party workers late last year and declared that it was in the party's interests to not enter into an alliance.``The alliance helped Congress win the Muslim vote but we did not get the seats or the expected level of support on the seats we were allotted; so it is better for us to win a handful of seats on our own and bargain in the post-poll scenario,'' argues Dalwai. Accordingly, the SP has been preparing its support base since early January. Later, when Pawar declared that the Congress had won back the confidence of the minorities at an iftaar party he hosted after years, it was clear that the parties had, indeed, decided to part ways.Pradesh Congress Committee president Prataprao Bhosale too echoed the view that the Congress ``does not need'' the SP but will think of an alliance if the SP makes the first approach. SP leaders did not even bother to respond.Meanwhile, the RPI split into two main factions. The alliance helped it win four seats in the 1998 Lok Sabha but the party split later in the year means the Congress will not be able to harness the full energies of the RPI and its neo-Buddhist/Dalit support base. While Ramdas Athawale faction still swears by the Congress, the Prakash Ambedkar group nurtures nothing but antipathy.In fact, the RPI's ``soft approach'' to the Congress was itself an issue that divided Athawale and Ambedkar. The two MPs in the dissolved Lok Sabha claim that their faction is the ``real'' RPI and enjoys the maximum support. Their fight is now with the Central Election Commission that will decide which of the two gets to keep the party flag and symbol. In any event, a fractured RPI can do little to bolster the Congress spirits.Under the circumstances, Congress leaders are groping for a revised formula this time around. Efforts have begun to woo the disgruntled section in the SP mainly from the Muslim-dominated constituencies like Bhiwandi and Mumbai South. ``Some of them are talking to us. Let's see what can be worked out,'' said Congress general secretary Kripashankar Singh. But the exuberance of 1998 is missing in the party and party leaders know it. Top
