A secular front aimed at toppling the BJP-Shiv Sena, or a platform for rebellion within the Congress? The Maharashtra Congress Forum (MCF), formally announced by Sharad Pawar's supporters this fortnight, was nipped in the bud even before it had an opportunity to chart out a clear course of action. The idea met with a firm no from Delhi, making state leaders, who had tentatively extended support, quickly change their views.
The forum may go quietly, but it has already served the purpose of drawing attention to discontent. Rather than a platform against the Manohar Joshi Government, which the MCF claims is the main reason for its formation, party insiders see it as a way of attracting Congress strongman Pawar's attention to his supporters back home.
Complains a forum member: "He (Pawar) made Madhukarrao Pichad, a tribal, the opposition leader in the assembly, and after shifting to Delhi he left OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal in his place as opposition leader in the legislative council. The party president (Sushilkumar Shinde) is from a scheduled caste. The main posts go to these communities, but when it comes to votes the Marathas are expected to back the Congress." The Maratha community has traditionally backed the Congress. The MCF is seen as an articulation of Maratha anger at being taken for granted and left out of positions that matter.
The group of 30 MLAs who formed the MCF, including Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit, spoke of secularism and attracting the youth. "Our main aim is to stop these people (BJP-Shiv Sena) and all the nonsense they are propagating," says Dilip Valse-Patil, a legislator close to Pawar, who is one of the main architects of the forum. "I met the PCC chief and briefed him about the forum. He came to the conclusion that this is not against the party," says Valse-Patil.
The state Congress position became clear after Delhi conveyed its decision. MPCC President Shinde said: "No forum has been allowed on an all-India basis, so there is no question of any state going ahead with one. MLAs can meet. They can exploit the floor of the House to project the problems of the people."
Conceived nearly nine months ago, legislators including Madhukar Kinhalkar, Digvijay Khanvilkar, Pravin Bhosle, Laxman Dhoble and Ajit Pawar are part of the group. While party leaders admit there is a need to step up the legislative offence against the BJP-Shiv Sena government, it can be done within the party platform available. "They have been able to get away with steps like scrapping the Minorities Commission and bringing back Enron, because the Congress has not been alert enough. But there is the CLP and MPCC through which all this can be done. These are all Pawar's people acting up," says a former minister.
Pawar, who has shifted to Delhi since his election to the Lok Sabha from Baramati, disassociated himself from the forum of his followers which is seeking a more active role in the party. According to senior party leaders close to Pawar, the former chief minister has made it clear that he neither allowed nor initiated such a forum.
After their third meeting, when it was decided to formally launch the forum, a member said that an understanding could be worked out with the Third front to form a secular alternative in Maharashtra, like the one at the Centre. "We are also talking to the Independents, who are ex-Congressmen. This way we may be able to pull down the state government," says a forum member. The ruling combine, which needed the support of Independents, to form government has not taken the move so seriously. Says a BJPMLC: "It would be very difficult for them to scratch away all the Independents. Besides, they have to convince their party leadership that this is really the intention.
A case in point, given the All India Congress Committee's abhorrence of pressure groups within the party. In fact the reaction from Delhi has been quicker, though quieter than that of the BJP high command in neighbouring Gujarat. The BJP leadership asked former MP Shankarsinh Vaghela to dissolve his 'Mahagujarat Asmita Manch' just days after he formed it, terming the move "anti-party" and an act of indiscipline. But like the dissidents in Gujarat, the forum, though a stillborn case, seems to have got its message through.
