In what was clearly a balancing act among factions of the Congress in poll-bound Maharashtra, party president Sonia Gandhi appointed Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh chairman of the election management committee today, only a week after she had appointed Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde chairman of the campaign committee.

It’s the first time that two such committees have been formed for an Assembly election. With both committees supposed to carry out the same task - manage the elections- the two former Chief Ministers are set to have jurisdictional issues, Congress sources were certain.

The move is also set to tell on coordination between the Congress and its likely ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Deshmukh is against an alliance while Shinde is well disposed towards the NCP; this could reflect in the committees they head, lead to possible contradictions and leave the NCP with plenty of cause for worry.

Deshmukh has been airing his views against an alliance with the NCP since his ouster as Chief Minister following the Mumbai terror attacks. The NCP had decided to ask Deputy CM RR Patil to resign in the wake of the attacks, and Patil’s resignation had made Deshmukh’s continuance as CM untenable, though his ouster was also hastened by his trip to Taj with his son, an actor, and filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma.

While the NCP has since helped him get elected vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), Deshmukh has been far from mollified. He has got vocal support from two other senior leaders, Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.

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