“Running a coalition government is an art,” NCP chief and Union minister Sharad Pawar said on Saturday, taking a jibe at Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan after he spoke of advantages of single-party rule.
“Some people are saying that it is difficult to run an alliance government,” Mr Pawar said, in an apparent reference to Mr Chavan’s remarks which appeared to suggest difficulties in managing a coalition government.
Congress and NCP are sharing power in the state since 1999.
In a tacit admission of the unease in Congress’ alliance with NCP, Mr Chavan on Friday said that taking decisions is a much easier process when a single party is in power.
“There is an important difference in the political situation that existed during Yashwantrao Chavan’s tenure as chief minister and the one which exists today. Then, there was a single party rule, and once there was a consensus within the party, there were no problems in taking decisions and implementing manifestos. However, today there are many parties in the state legislature and in Lok Sabha. There are difficulties in taking decisions, especially unpopular decisions,” he had said. Stating that there was no alternative to alliance governments in the present era, Mr Pawar said, “Today, there are coalition governments in 78 per cent countries in the world”. Mr Pawar cited the example of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying “with Singh at the helm, there have never been differences among us”.