Cong high-command, state leadership should meet halfway

At this rate, the party may end up with only the most undesired seats in Maharashtra, which its allies don’t deem winnable, by default

To say that the Maharashtra Congress is in a crisis will be a gross understatement. With just days to go before polling for six Lok Sabha seats in the first phase in Nagpur and neighbouring seats, not a day goes by with some bad news for the Grand Old Party.

Just this week, first came news that the Shiv Sena (UBT) has defied it to go toe-to-toe in the Sangli seat. Then, on Thursday, NCP (Sharad Pawar) went ahead and announced its candidates for Bhiwandi and Wardha, two seats that Congress has contested and won in the past. At this rate, the party may end up with only the most undesired seats in Maharashtra, which its allies don’t deem winnable, by default.

Then there are the personality-based controversies. On Thursday, Sanjay Nirupam spat out some home truths for the party’s high-command. Come Friday, it was the turn of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, the most recent in a long list of Congress deserters who have decided to throw in their lot with the BJP. Chavan said he was firm on at least three Mumbai seats and Bhiwandi when he was helming the seat-sharing talks with the allies while he was still in the Congress. He has squarely placed the blame on those who succeeded him and took the alliance talks forward.

Whatever one might think of Nirupam and Chavan, there is no denying some of the points they have raised about the disconnect between the state leaders and the party high command in Delhi. While Chavan blamed the local leaders for hiding the ground reality from the top brass, Nirupam blamed the high command for being aloof.

There is a grain of truth in what both are saying, and the sooner the Congress from top to bottom acknowledge that there is something wrong in their set up, the quicker they can go about putting their house in order and ensure there is a future for the party in the state. It is never too late. After all, there will be an all-important Assembly election in the state in just a few months.

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