With allies mounting pressure on it over the price rise, the Congress on Monday sought to pass some of the blame on to the NCP. In a veiled attack on NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, it said that “better agriculture policies” were required to tackle the problem of inflation.“A combination of demand, supply constraints has resulted in low buffer stocks and record prices. What can, however, save India from the menace of food-related inflation, most experts believe, are augmented investments and better agricultural policies,” said a press statement released by AICC media cell chairperson Veerappa Moily.The Congress’s subtle attack on the Agriculture Minister came barely days after Pawar and party colleague and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel sent a “subtle message” of their own to the Congress by attending the book release function of opposition leader L K Advani.It was not the first time that the two coalition partners had indulged in an exchange of messages. That, in fact, defines the relationship between the two parties, according to insiders.Earlier this year, the NCP signalled its autonomy to the Congress when it joined hands with the Shiv Sena in the Pune Municipal Corporation after parting ways with the Congress for the Brihammumbai Municipal Corporation. In an election year, as all parties take a closer look at their political alliances, the NCP is naturally at the centrestage, having emerged as the biggest gainer in terms of expansion in states as also clout at the Centre with just 10 members in the Lok Sabha. From around half-a-dozen states four years ago, today the NCP has MLAs in at least 14 states and a unique array of coalition partners to boast — ranging from the BJP in Nagaland to the Left in West Bengal and Kerala and regional players in the North-East. Beginning 2004, the NCP has also got MLAs in half-a-dozen states where it had no presence earlier — Gujarat, Goa, Orissa, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. No wonder Pawar’s suggestion that the UPA should contest the next Lok Sabha polls collectively has set the Congress aflutter. The NCP has been an unusual ally for the Congress. While it sewed up an alliance with the Left in Kerala and West Bengal in the last Assembly elections, at the Centre it was right in the forefront pressing ahead with crucial economic reform decisions like the privatisation of airports and extending support on the nuclear deal.The homecoming of P A Sangma after his disillusionment with the Trinamool Congress last year and alliance with the National People’s Front and the BJP in Nagaland have also helped the party grow into an alternative to the Congress in the North-East. To top it, Pawar didn’t think twice when Manohar Joshi asked him to drop by for a few minutes to meet Bal Thackeray when the former had gone to attend a function close to the Shiv Sena supremo’s house. When Pawar and Patel followed that up by attending Advani’s book release, the discomfort in the Congress and other UPA allies was evident. “Politics should not come in the way of personal relations. We have always fought against the BJP and Shiv Sena,” Patel told The Indian Express justifying the NCP leaders’ presence at the Advani function.Nevertheless, the NCP maintains that its alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra is vital and of prime importance. “The perception of differences with the Congress is not true,” said Patel. And therein lies the NCP’s strength. Being ex-Congressmen, the Pawar-Patel duo are adept at second guessing the political instincts of their Congress counterparts. So unlike other allies who seem to focus on the problems they can create for the Congress — like the Left which seeks to build an ideological opposition or the DMK which looks to take mileage by ramming its view down the Congress leadership or Lalu’s RJD that chooses to show difference by sulking in the quiet — the NCP leaders have sought to package themselves more as part of the solution while silently advancing their political interests. It’s not that there is no consternation in the NCP ranks for the attempt to blame Pawar for the inflation. “If brickbats go to Sharad Pawar for everything that goes wrong in Agriculture, some of the credit for the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver should also go to Sharad Pawar,” notes Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.While the NCP has tried to take credit for this package, it has again chosen to do so subtly — its advertising campaign does talk of the Rs 60,000 cr waiver, but Sonia Gandhi smiles benignly down from the posters. Has the Congress got the message? There would be several occasions to judge that, one of which is the appointment of the next governor of Maharashtra. The NCP was not consulted when S M Krishna was made the Governor last time. Had it been consulted, NCP sources say, they would have pointed out that getting a leader from Karnataka sat oddly with Maharashtra politics given the sensitive boundary issue between the two states. For what appears to be a complicated relationship filled with nuances and moments of assertion, the NCP too has its red lines. It cannot overstretch its association with the BJP given that its political philosophy is essentially secular and inclusive. And similarly it cannot veer too much to the Left as it is a votary of economic reforms and liberalisation.
