Opinion Waiting for government
It will be 12 days on Tuesday since the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra scored a surprisingly easy victory in the assembly elections...
It will be 12 days on Tuesday since the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra scored a surprisingly easy victory in the assembly elections and were assured of a third straight term in power. But all those who were mightily relieved that the polls did not throw up a hung assembly and hoped that the clear verdict would energise the two parties to make a fresh beginning,should be doing a serious rethink now. The alliance partners have been negotiating and squabbling over the number and nature of ministries they think they deserve in the new government and have not been able to come to an agreement despite the need to form a government before the deadline of November 4.
Irrespective of whether they manage to seal a deal on Tuesday,or settle to swear in just Ashok Chavan and Chhagan Bhujbal as chief minister and his deputy to beat the deadline and continue to fight for the loaves of office,the delay has managed to damage the new dispensations image. It has also hinted at a key underlying cause for the poor governance record of the alliance over the last 10 years: their excessive focus on coming to power,holding on to it and making the most of those years in office.
At the crux of the present stalemate is the improved performance of the Congress and the higher number of seats it has won,and the corresponding fall in the numbers of the NCP. When the two parties came together to form their first alliance government in 1999,both got 21 ministries each,with Congress getting the post of CM. Although the Congress had then won significantly more seats than the NCP,it agreed to share the ministries equally based on the same formula as the predecessor Shiv Sena-BJP alliance because the alliance was being cobbled together in a hurry after the polls and there was also a fear that the newly formed NCP could go with the Sena and BJP and keep the Congress out of power.
In 2004,the Congress had to settle for 18 ministries plus the post of CM while the NCP got 24 as it returned to the assembly with more MLAs than the Congress. Five years on,the tables have once again turned with the Congress winning 20 seats more than its partner and naturally wants this to be reflected in the council of ministers as well.
Besides,it also wants back the crucial portfolios of home affairs,and perhaps finance,among other key portfolios. This slide is obviously not acceptable to the NCP which has seen its clout in its home state dip steadily since the Lok Sabha elections.
While some of this stalemate is a repeat of what happened in Delhi between the DMK and the Congress earlier this year,the battle for the home portfolio reveals a quirk typical to Maharashtra as it is generally not considered an ATM ministry in much of the country. But not so in a state which has been recruiting about 10,000 policemen every year and also places a high premium over postings and transfers. But having two masters the CM from one party and the home minister from another,since the days of the Sena-BJP alliance has taken its toll on the state police who admit in private that they are not always clear about their reporting lines and the line of policy when sensitive issues are at play.
The tragedy of the delay in forming the government though is that it has meant many critical administrative decisions hang in balance. The state chief secretary is on an extension and the police chief,who was also on an extension,retired on Saturday but a successor cannot be named as much would depend on who gets the home ministry. The new government also needs to approve the increase in power generation capacities in a state that is reeling under massive power cuts,push through drought relief measures and sign contracts to launch highly essential infrastructure projects in Mumbai. The contracts for one of those projects,the Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link,Ashok Chavan had promised in an interview to the editor of this newspaper in August,would be processed and signed within 15 days.
That was not to be the case as the exigencies of electoral politics and the need to rush through politically more urgent contracts,before the model code of conduct came into place,overtook the need for infrastructure. That deal still needs to be signed as also many others Mumbai has been waiting for,too long,too patiently. The Congress and the NCP are very likely to explain their behaviour as due to the constraints imposed by coalition politics. But in a state such as Maharashtra,fast climbing the charts of sloth in development and governance,that is a poor excuse.
yp.rajesh@expressindia.com
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