Two together

With a general election now visible in the horizon,a new conciliatoriness is in the air. The CPM leadership,for instance,is being petitioned to get Somnath Chatterjee back in the party fold. Six months ago,he was unceremoniously and unfairly turfed out of the CPM for refusing to heed his party colleagues vengeance against the UPA and resign as speaker of the Lok Sabha before a vote of confidence. Now,the Bengal unit of the CPM has begun an internal debate on the merits of wooing Chatterjee back,speaking of his stature in national politics and his refusal to sound bitter after being expelled from the CPM. The issue may yet make to the CPMs politburo. But as far as overtures go,it is outshined by the NCPs suggestion that the UPA face the general election as one entity.

The Nationalist Congress Party is seen to be at so many crossroads that the suggestion must be taken with a pinch of salt. But the irony is overwhelming. The NCP was born a decade ago of its leader,Sharad Pawars impatience with submitting himself to the Congress hierarchy. Quickly thereafter he established himself as a regional chieftain. In 1999,his NCP comfortably settled into a coalition with the Congress in Maharashtra,and in 2004 the party got itself key portfolios in the Congress-led UPA government.

The NCPs suggestion of UPA unity comes amidst fierce jostling for seats in the general election. It demands that the Congress let it contest 26 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra,designating the NCP the senior partner in the state. This is a longstanding point of contention; after the last assembly poll,the Congress refused to countenance suggestions that the numbers gave chief ministership of the state to the NCP. The NCP is also demanding seat sharing in other states in,for instance,Meghalaya,Bihar and Kerala. The party has long looked for ways to deepen and expand its electability. It has,most tellingly,even formed an alliance with the Shiv Sena to get the mayors post in Pune. The NCPs current bargaining contains,therefore,the friction between two trajectories: its founding challenge to demonstrate individual clout in order to strike a tough deal in a coalition; and,with the experience of incumbency,its need for pre-poll tie-ups to increase its tally. Ten years is clearly a long time in a political partys life.