NCP’s pressure politics

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar is peeved at being ignored by Congress for number two position in the UPA government after the exit of President-elect Mr. Pranab Mukherjee from it as Union Finance Minister. If seniority and experience is anything to go by, he deserves to be given No 2 position in the government and leader of the Lok Sabha status. But his past political record is so dubious and treacherous in regard to Congress party that he can never be considered reliable by it. That is why his political outfit NCP is threatening the government to withdraw its support to UPA coalition. But one problem is also with him that if NCP withdraws support from the Centre, Congress-NCP coalition government is bound to fall in Maharastra - only one state government where NCP is in power. The prevailing political, economic and other situations of the UPA are at its worst. The government is beset with all sorts of problems and a new charge of corruption against it is being leveled on daily basis. This has undoubtedly demoralized the UPA government. Some of the allies of the Congress-led UPA are threatening of reviewing its continuance in coalition on daily basis. But in reality no one has dared break away from the coalition. Congress knows it too well and that is why it treats its coalition partner so shabbily. The veteran political leader of the nation from Maharashtra NCP supremo and Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has also upped his ante against the UPA to extract as much political space as possible to realize his prime ministerial ambition, which he has been nursing since 1991 when he was in the Congress itself and the party was then led by others than Nehru-Gandhi family. He sees and feels that Congress leadership would never give him any prominence on national political stage to make claim for leadership of secular coalition if ever the Congress party fails to win as much Lok Sabha seats as required to form the government. His prime ministerial ambition is poking him time and again to prepare the ground so that he could be seen as prime ministerial candidate of the secular formation sans Congress. Sharad Pawar broke away with the Congress along with PA Sangama and Tariq Anwar over the issue of foreign national (citizenship) issue of Congress President Sonia Gandhi in 1999. But finding no other secular formation to give him prominence, he decided to leave Congress president foreign citizenship issue and aligned with the party in Maharashtra to fight assembly elections and took part in Congress-led coalition. Congress party would never give him any weight age, no matter whether the NCP remains in the Congress-led UPA coalition or no matters little. Because the NCP has only 9 Lok Sabha MPs. They can not upset the UPA apple cart. But Sharad Pawar is certain to leave UPA coalition before 2014 elections to give a last try to realize his vaulting ambition of being the Prime Minister of India.