State Cong argued for going solo in ’06

Whether the Congress will renew its pre-poll alliance with Nationalist Congress Party for the state assembly elections is anybody’s guess. There is continuing stalemate and the Congress is playing the waiting game to the hilt. Amidst all this, an internal Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) report of 2006 that has surfaced now cites a detailed districtwise survey to make a case that it was not in the interest of the party to have the alliance. The then MPCC president Prabha Rau had sought views of each district, city and rural unit in the state on whether it was prudent for the party to have an alliance with NCP. As many 37 of the 47 units had opposed the alliance.
The report gave some startling figures. In 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had contested 26 of the 48 seats and won 13 in alliance with NCP. In the assembly elections the same year, the Congress had contested 157 of the 288 seats but won 68. But in by-elections later, its success rate was far better when it fought elections “with covert opposition of the NCP,” the report states. Congress contested nine by-polls seats and won seven of them. “As a result, the Congress emerged as the largest party in the assembly, the position it had lost to the NCP when it fought in alliance with it,” the MPCC report noted.
The report argues for severing pre-poll ties with NCP citing the local self-government elections. “The Congress fought ZP elections independently and won 493 seats, emerging as the largest party in civic bodies. Even in panchayat samiti polls, where its had no alliance with the NCP, the Congress won 931 seats emerging as the party with most panchayat members,” the report noted.
Rau concluded that both results, 2004 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, indicated that the alliance was more beneficial to NCP. It is a common perception that the Congress votes get divided if there is no alliance with the NCP. But results of the local self government bodies do not support this contention,” Rau stated in her report.
Instead of heeding to her, the Congress succumbed to NCP pressure and eased Rau from the MPCC post, a party source lamented. “Of course, the Congress paid the price for dumping her report. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress vote share dipped to 19% from 23% in 2004 polls, bringing it to within 3% of that garnered by the opposition, he added.