The Emperor's New Thorns

However, it was not very long ago that the Sena chief was frothing at the mouth, the provocation being a comment by Deshmukh, who then was a defeated mla trying to return to the Congress. Deshmukh had dared to remind the Sena chief that his government was three-legged, the third leg being the Congress rebels whose withdrawal could lead to its collapse.

It is a measure of Vilasrao's suitability as chief minister of Maharashtra that he should so completely charm Thackeray. But then, Thackeray might also be afraid that Vilasrao could just summon the required toughness to implement the Srikrishna Commission recommendations. His gestures, therefore, can also be read as an attempt to get on the right side of the new CM, even as he threatens mayhem if he were to be arrested.

The crown rests uneasy on Vilasrao. He heads a troubled coalition which, in its first week, is threatened not by the unreliable ncp but by his own partymen.

A war of words has broken out between the chief minister and his 'nearest rival'' for the job, Ranjit Deshmukh, former pcc chief, who has set the alarm bells ringing by quitting as the clp leader in the legislative council. Ranjit is making out a case for loyalists-as against 'rebels'', presumably-by stating that not one of them has been accommodated in the new cabinet. Moreover, a johnny-come-lately like Hussain Dalwai, who quit the Samajwadi Party for the Congress on the eve of the polls, finds a berth, while nobody from Vidarbha (Ranjit's native place) does. The Congress, with 75 members in the house, has 30 mlas from Vidarbha alone.

With this kind of an inauspicious beginning, Vilasrao has a tough task cut out for him. The Dalit factions, led by Prakash Ambedkar, sulking at their non-inclusion in the cabinet have, however, been mollified. All four mlas of the Bahujan Mahasangh were promised either a ministerial berth or the chairmanship of a corporation (cabinet minister's rank). But Vilasrao might continue to squirm at the constant reminder from partymen like Ranjit that less than five years ago, he too had been a 'rebel'. Ranjit, naturally upset that he should be passed over when he was always on the side of the Congress, needs to be reminded that his rival's rebellion had been against Pawar's total control of the party machinery and not against the party high command.

|In fact, Vilasrao would have been the chief minister almost a decade ago, had it not been for Pawar. Political observers believe that soon after he merged his Congress (S) with the Congress (I) in 1986, Pawar realised that his position within the party was threatened by 'loyalists'' like Vilasrao, always a challenger in terms of Pawar's administrative acumen, though perhaps without the latter's manipulative skills. So, while he continued in Pawar's successive cabinets, he was systematically sidelined and, according to common belief, 'defeated'' by the Maratha warlord in the '95 assembly polls.

You can see now, that was an accident,'' Vilasrao told Outlook. 'I have never lost another election in my life, not even at the gram panchayat level.'' This time he won with a margin of over 80,000 votes. 'I stepped out of Mantralaya on March 9, 1995. I did not set foot inside again until October 18, 1999 (the day he was sworn in chief minister). It has been a long absence but I never lost touch (with the bureaucracy) and it is the bureaucracy which will now help me to restore Maharashtra to its former glory.'

'It has been a long journey for a man who began as the sarpanch of Babalgaon village, Latur district, 25 years ago, working his way up through the zilla parishad, the cooperative societies, the agricultural produce marketing corporation and 'almost 80 per cent of the portfolios'' in the Maharashtra government from the time he was first inducted as a minister in 1982 in the Babasaheb Bhosale government. However, less than five years ago, Vilasrao was expelled from the Congress for contesting the legislative council elections as a rebel. He was taken back by Sitaram Kesri and then elevated to the post of clp leader and chief minister by Sonia Gandhi.

If the party high command now seems to be doing injustice to the likes of Ranjit Deshmukh by choosing Vilasrao to head their coalition government in Maharashtra, it has a good reason. It was Vilasrao's very 'rebellion'' that makes him a candidate fit to fight Pawar now, measure for measure. For instance, even before he was sworn in chief minister, the ncp president sent him a 15-point letter demanding that the programmes listed there be implemented forthwith. Critics suggested that Pawar was now trying to remote- control the government.

The chief minister has, however, taken the wind out of Pawar's sails by refusing to see the letter as an attempt to dictate terms. 'In fact, I am glad those suggestions were made. They will be included in our common minimum programme and implemented in due course. I must remind you here that the policies and ideologies of the Congress and the ncp are identical. The only issue we disagree on is the foreign origins of our party president.'

Besides, the kind of mandate that the political leadership of Maharashtra has makes it necessary for the ncp leadership to soft- pedal on the foreign origin issue. As a result, deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal says they have only pushed the issue to the background. But what is simmering now and is of equal concern to both are two crucial issues: the dire financial straits that Maharashtra is in and the status report on the Srikrishna Commission recommendations. Deshmukh is insistent that the morass of bankruptcy into which Maharashtra has been pushed by the Sena-bjp must be made clear to the people. Says Vilasrao: 'We will tell the people how the fiscal imprudence of various corporations like the Krishna Valley Development Corporation, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and the Water Resources Development Corporation has landed the state in this mess.''

And that is hardly an attempt to divert attention by spinning some confusing figures, because Deshmukh knows well enough that even the November salaries of the government staff might remain unpaid unless he does something quickly enough to pull the irons out of the fire. With no money for Diwali bonus, the government needs to garner at least Rs 3,000 crore for routine expenses alone, a task that can be accomplished only by cutting the Plan size by at least 30 per cent (the existing Plan is for Rs 12,600 crore, it will have to be brought down to Rs 8,000 crore). Indeed, this is the most serious challenge facing the Lokshahi Aghadi (Democratic Front) government in the state.

Besides, the new government might have to tread a difficult terrain with regard to action against Thackeray on his indictment by the Srikrishna Commission which inquired into the Bombay riots. Neither party can afford to go back on this commitment without alienating the minority votebank. On the other hand, skilful handling will be required to prevent Mumbai from burning if Thackeray is arrested.

However, the most immediate task before Vilasrao is how to better the profile of his faction of the government: the common criticism from partymen being that in attempting to balance the government with minorities drawn from among its allies, the ncp has ended up with heavyweights in the government. That is the least thorny of his problems.

Afternoon Despatch and Courier editor Behram Contractor is cautiously optimistic. "As far as mentality is concerned, the current rulers are the same. Chhagan Bhujbal was a Sena man. But yes, the Congress government may go a bit easy on what are called moral issues. Earlier, it was a one-man government. We were subjected to his views. Now I think there'll be some change."

While it's not clear if the era of 'cultural policing' is over, Parmeshwar Godrej too finds reason to be positive. She blames the present state of Mumbai on "misgovernance and lack of political will to give back to Mumbai what it has given to the whole country". But, adds she: "The mood is upbeat. There is a sense of hope. We're going to see a revival of Mumbai, in terms of entertainment and everything that contributes to the quality of life."

It's tempting to ask whether Mumbai's attraction to the rest of the country is inextricably linked to what it does on a Saturday evening. Shobha De disagrees. Mumbai's strength is the "spirit of its people. Sena or Congress, the spirit is not going to change". She says that whatever Sena had done to rehabilitate the 'debauched' city was a "reflection of popular mentality. So, it's not going to change overnight with the Congress".

In the final analysis, one should understand there are two kinds of Mumbaikars. The ones on the top and the ones down below. There's always fun up there, no matter who's in Mantralaya. Lower down, people have bigger things on their mind. Like the 6:23 Virar fast.