The Indian Express :
If you repeat an incantation or a threat three times, it’s final. Or is it? Maharashtra revenue minister, Narayan Rane, has thrown his third resignation tantrum, this time over CM Vilasrao Deshmukh’s decision to allot 250 acres in Navi Mumbai to Videocon Industries for a manufacturing plant. Clearly, it is no ideological rift but a straightforward story of thwarted ambition — Rane’s reputation for political machination trails him from the Shiv Sena days. His move to the Congress was also a transparently self-serving move, and tilted the balance firmly in favour of the Congress in the coalition government, with his six MLAs and significant command in the Konkan region.
But Rane’s impetuous, straight-talking ways clearly did not cut it in the kowtowing culture of the Maharashtra Congress, long accustomed to deferring all critical decision-making to the high command. Internally riven and collectively timid, the state Congress is remote-controlled from Delhi. The state government’s authority is sorely undermined by its own party members. Vilasrao Deshmukh has managed to remain the Goldilocks candidate, he commands enough clout with industry and is tolerated by the party organisation, and is conveniently kept on his toes by his rivals and presents no threat as a potential regional satrap.
But while it might suit the Congress to keep its Maharashtra unit on permanent tenterhooks, it has been disastrous for the state. The Government has been obsessed with matters of personal future, and unable to execute the most fundamental administrative tasks. It is beset by an acute power problem, urban infrastructure has hit the skids, the farm crisis goes unaddressed, and the sugar sector tells its own bitter story. Meanwhile, the Congress-NCP alliance directs its energies at erecting massive monuments to Maratha pride and competes with the Sena over incendiary politics. If this coalition founders over Rane’s rebellion, the Congress has only its own shaky edifice to blame.
