Political partnerships, like most other such ties, have their twists and turns. The relations between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party too have their share of strains. However, the tiff between the two parties over the nomination of the industrialist, Mr Rahul Bajaj, to the Rajya Sabha has a larger context than Maharashtra?s local politics. True, the relations between the two parties have been uneasy since the recent elections to the state?s legislative council. The real problem seems to lie deeper. It is not a question of a couple of council seats or the candidature of Mr Bajaj that is really the problem between the two parties. The larger issue is one of mutual trust. The Congress has accused the NCP of breaching the trust by actually sponsoring Mr Bajaj?s candidature. But what has rattled the Congress more is the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena have rallied behind the NCP?s support for Mr Bajaj. It has thus become much more than a matter of a Rajya Sabha seat. It has put the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra under a cloud and led to speculations about a political realignment. It has also revived memories of Mr Sharad Pawar?s one-time rebellion against Ms Sonia Gandhi.

For the Congress president, the travails in Maharashtra come as both a warning and a challenge. This is the first time that the Congress has had the experience of running a coalition government at the Centre. Unlike in New Delhi, the party?s coalitions in the states are strained by the vicissitudes of local politics. The last elections in Bihar showed how the United Progressive Alliance?s failure to stay united led to its defeat. The Congress cannot afford to do anything that would push the NCP into the company of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra. At the same time, it would be politically wrong for the party to allow the NCP to blackmail it. After all, the NCP is a regional force even within Maharashtra. And its electoral fortunes depend entirely on Mr Pawar?s ability to keep the flock together. The Lok Sabha polls of 2004 showed the declining popularity of the BJP- Shiv Sena alliance. The subsequent split in the Shiv Sena and the mess in the BJP in the aftermath of Pramod Mahajan?s death have made matters even worse for the alliance. Mr Pawar may have problems with the Congress; but he may face much worse by going with the sangh parivar.