Maha trouble for the Congress

One can imagine a lowly josh in the party which has a demoralised state unit president who talks of resigning ahead of Lok Sabha polls. That's Maharashtra Congress - the unit the party high command has been expecting to win as many seats to increase the UPA's number. The high-energy levels, that the state unit showed after the emergence of Rahul Gandhi's leadership and the three-state win, are long lost. The situation appears so discouraging for the Congress 15 days ahead of the first round of polling that the Congress now faces a challenge of winning more seats than its ally Nationalist Congress Party.

Congress has two MPs while NCP has five. As usual, NCP has emerged a winner in the negotiations and sits pretty in the alliance, retaining seats in its in its influence area. In fact, if we look at how things have turned out we must say NCP has made a fool of Congress yet again. Congress workers are as frustrated as Ashok Chavan, who admitted in a phone conversation with a party worker that his opinion as state Congress chief held no water in Delhi's 24 Akbar Road. "Nobody out there listens to me," he said while pacifying a karyakarta who wanted to know why a proxy candidate was being forced in Chandrapur.

Apparently, he asked the person to question Mukul Wasnik, the party's national general secretary, over the faulty selection of candidates. Chavan's also not happy because his request for returning to state politics was rejected. He will fight Lok Sabha from Nanded against his wishes.

Cracks exposed
The series of events have showed cracks in the Congress wide open. Chavan wanted the party to review the candidature given to Navinchandra Bandivadekar, whose name is associated with Sanatan Sanstha. But his plea went unheard, giving an impression to the people who have been supporting the party all these five years, that the Congress' Hindutva agenda was getting harder.

In Akola, the party couldn't field a practicing doctor whose family has been associated with the RSS and VHP, because of service related technicalities. The doctor has been insisting that his wife gets the nomination instead of anyone else. Good sense prevailed as Hidayat Patel, the 2014 contestant, was retained in Akola. It had something to do with a rebellion by a Muslim MLA, Abdul Sattar, who was denied a ticket from Aurangabad.

Surprisingly, all this happened when the party has in its rank and Parliament, the persons who were most vocal in the Dabholkar-Pansare killings and demanded a ban on Sanatan. These leaders have failed the friends in the civil society and political activists by not conveying a strong sentiment to the high command.

It is not just about some seats and the state president. The situation is expected to remain grim in all 24 seats that the Congress contests this time. It has given two seats to smaller allies, who are likely to perform better in Sangli (Raju Shetti's farmers' party) and Palghar (Hitendra Thakur's Bahujan Vikas Aghadi). From NCP's 22, Hatkanangle will go to Shetti where he has beaten NCP twice in the past and would have won even as an independent this time. So, giving up that seat does (not) count for NCP's loss in a seat-sharing.

If Sangli goes, the Congress faces the ignominy of losing a hold onto its long-time bastion where it had remained undefeated from the first Lok Sabha election till 2014. The Congress will be wiped out from one more seat in the sugar belt of western Maharashtra if a Shetti nominee manages to win the segment that borders the MP's Hatkanangale seat. Congress has already lost Ahmednagar, where Sujay Vikhe Patil could have won if given a ticket. Now Congress leaders say since NCP knew Vikhe Patil's plan, it did not cooperate. The heat over Ahmednagar is still high as Sujay's father Radhakrishna boycotted the gathbandhan announcement on Saturday.

Failed to stop defections
As several leaders like Vikhe senior may be on their way out, the Congress has miserably failed in stopping defections of prospective candidates and influential leaders since 2014. Satara district Congress president Ranjit Nimbalkar is expected to enter BJP tomorrow for Madha candidature. Congress does not easily welcome people in the party. It ignores a Sena MLA, Suresh Dhanorkar from eastern Vidarbha who quits in anticipation of a Congress ticket from Chandrapur. Instead, senior leaders in Delhi first decided on the nomination of a son of a former Nagpur MP, withdrew it later and then nominated a local person, who was finally replaced by Dhanorkar on Sunday. They fielded former Sena MP Subhash Wankhede from Hingoli, seeking revenge from poachers. But will this all suffice?

There is a famous saying that describes Congress in the electoral field: "Congress defeats Congress." In Maharashtra, the saying seems to be having a recurring effect. The advantage that the wins in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly elections had given to the Congress weren't used to keep the flame burning ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Instead of instilling trust in 'maay-baap' voters, the Congress leaders who sulked and vanished after 2014 defeat, were suddenly back into the game of one-upmanship. This has paralysed, demoralised and frustrated the organisation at a crucial juncture. What more could the BJP-Sena, and of course, NCP want from the grand old party?

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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