The Sharad Pawar flirtation with the Third Front has had its comical side. MrPawar was visually absent but vocally present in Bhubaneswar. A mobile was heldto the face of the mike and Mr Pawar spoke his piece from Pune or wherever hewas. The line got disconnected many times which itself is a nice metaphor forthe NCP leader’s erratic links with Messrs Karat, Patnaik, Bardhan and Raja.In an election season where comedy has been in short supply, Mr Pawar’slong-distance alliance with the Third Front came as a welcome relief.
I hold no brief for Sharad Pawar. However, of all the hopefuls who havethrown their hat into the Kisa Kursi (PM's) Ka, he has the bestchance. He is extremely will networked, corporate India is his chum, he has fewenemies and many friends cutting across party lines. And finally he has themagic ingredient: money. And I am talking big money.
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There is, it seems to me, one difficulty. All the other contenders -- Lalu,Mayawati, Jayalalitha, Nitish -- can hope to get 35-plus seats. While thesenumbers are slight, they do give the candidate some hope. Mr Pawar got around 9seats last time. There is very little possibility for him to increase that tallysubstantially.
The Pawar candidature tells us something about India 2009. Our polity hasbecome so divided, so full of small regional or caste grouping that even 10seats seems a big number. That is the new reality of this general election.
Tailpiece: There is much talk of principles presently. The best quipin this regard comes from Groucho Marx: "Of course, I have principles – andif you don’t like those, I have others." Groucho could be prime minister ofIndia if he was alive.
