A Shaky Alliance

The Congress-NCP combine has hard times ahead to remain politically relevant in the state

- Kiran D. Tare

Even though the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) declared their alliance well ahead of the assembly election in Maharashtra, due on October 21, the coalition has no momentum even at this late stage. Both parties are beset with a crisis of credibility and a lack of dynamic leadership.

Matters took a turn for the worse when Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of then leader of the opposition, the Congress’s Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election this year, after the NCP refused to accept his candidacy for the Ahmednagar seat. This was followed by the departure of Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, an NCP leader from Solapur, who joined the BJP in late March. These departures triggered something of an exodus—16 MLAs from the alliance have since joined either the BJP or the Sena, the highest number of defections since 1980.