MUMBAI, OCT 18: Given the initial animosity and subsequent power play between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that nearly knocked them out of the race to form a government in Maharashtra, one wonders how the bad vibes turned friendly? The ones who smoothened the path are two Congressmen from New Delhi, so to speak.Sources say veteran Congress leader N K P Salve simply picked up the telephone to speak to NCP president Sharad Pawar, wanting to know what exactly was holding up the Congress-NCP alliance. He also promised to speak to Maharashtra Congressmen about it. Just when party negotiators, PCC president Prataprao Bhosale and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh were exasperated that their discussions with NCP leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal were leading nowhere and Bhujbal seemed on the verge of calling it off, the Congress seemed to shift into a "more accommodative mode".Party leaders said that the NCP team too seemed a trifle more willing to bargain and moved from its earlier positionof demanding the chief minister's post only. Salve's old connection with Pawar had sorted out the ticklish issue. Sources said that Salve's line to Pawar was simple: If we let go of this chance, the Shiv Sena-BJP will ride back to power and it will be that much more difficult for either the Congress or the NCP to dislodge the alliance later.Pawar may have been equally inclined to truck with the BJP but when a majority of his MLAs - even Bhujbal himself - were unwilling to entertain the option, he considered the proposal at power seriously. Pawar aides said that his predilection notwithstanding, he instructed Bhujbal and others to work out the best deal possible with the Congress.However, the other stumbling block of wearing down party president Sonia Gandhi's resistance to sharing power with Pawar's NCP was not so easily overcome, said a senior Congress leader. It did not help that Madhavrao Scindia, AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra, was also not in favour of the option and, in fact, hadmade it clear that sitting in Opposition would be a more honourable option for the party this time.At this point, former union minister Kamal Nath, now known for his proximity to Sonia, stepped in and sought to convince her to take up the challenge. That Pawar was not directly involved in the negotiations in Mumbai helped to an extent but "it was necessary to impress upon the top leadership of the piquant situation in the State that forced us to sit across the table from NCP", said a senior Congress leader.That done, both the Congress parties in Maharashtra came back to the negotiating table slightly more willing to accommodate the other. Problems remain in the new alliance but we at least formed the government, remarked the leader.
