Non-Marathas are lobbying hard for a post of Maharashtra PCC president after the successive victory of the party in the Lok Sabha the state Assembly polls since 2004. They want a new PCC chief should be a hard-core loyalist and not a “crony” of either the chief minister or Union ministers from the state.
The PCC has always been dominated by Marathas — the majority community ruling the state and controlling power centres after independence. But the Congress’ support base among the Marathas got a split after the NCP’s formation in 1999.
The Sharad Pawar-led party made Mr Chhagan Bhujbal, an OBC, the deputy chief minister and a tribal leader, Mr Madhukar Pichad, NCP’s state unit chief, Congress aspirants pointed out.
“If the NCP can promote non-Marathas, why cannot the Congress,” they asked.
Among the non-Marathas who led the Congress in Maharashtra include Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, N.M. Kamble, Naskirao Tirpude (dalits) and S.M.I. Asir(minority). Narendra Tidke and Abasaheb Khedkar belonged to the kunbi community.
A senior Congress leader wondered why the Central leadership is not comfortable with a leader who has a mass appeal. “They always prefer a light weight, defeated person to lead the organisation,” the leader observed.
While OBCs are staking their claim on the post, loyalists want loyalty (to the Gandhi-Nehru family) should be the only criteria for the post.
The current PCC chief Manikrao Thakre can quit only if he is accommodated in the state Cabinet. Chief minister Ashok Chavan obviously want his protégé to become a PCC chief while his opponents in the state and at the Centre are playing both the dalit and OBC card to checkmate him.
The Congress high command cannot afford to ignore Vidarbha against the backdrop of a movement for a separate Telangana state in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
The election or nomination of a PCC chief is significant this time in the sense that the Congress is not keen on continuing the coalition experiment. This is due to the division in the Shiv Sena and the BJP’s inability to get a mileage of the anti incumbency factor. And a Third Force in the state is leaderless at present.
The NCP is not in a mood to rejoin the parent party after realising that the Congress is not strong enough to come to power on its own.
The names of Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, Vilas Muttemwar, Jawyant Awale, Ulhas Pawar, Sudhakar Gangane, Uttamsingh Pawar, Rajani Patil are doing the round for the post.