With the NCP’s tally dwindling and the Congress’s tally improving in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha election, the NCP, which had adopted combative postures vis-à-vis its alliance partner before election, has been going overboard to keep the Congress in good humour.

While the Congress maintained a studied silence on its strategy in Maharashtra Assembly elections, the NCP leaders have been making public statements about the need for the alliance to strengthen secular forces.

One of the founder members of the NCP, P A Sangma, had called on Sonia last month to offer his apology for what he had done to her in 1999 when he, along with Pawar and Tariq Anwar, had raised a banner of revolt against her on her foreign origin issue that had led to the formation of the NCP. While the NCP had termed Sangma’s apology his “personal opinion”, the party refrained from spelling out its stance on the issue.