NCP helps Prithviraj Chavan put Ajit Pawar on the backfoot over seat sharing

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan knows how to turn the nuts and bolts to get a job done.

Chavan had his way on Wednesday about seat sharing: 23 for the Congress and 20 for the NCP in the cabinet. 

A silent operator, Chavan had the support of central NCP leaders whose intervention saw his deputy Ajit Pawar at the receiving end. Pawar had said on Tuesday that the NCP would settle for nothing less than 21.

Both the Congress and the NCP took their dispute to NCP president Sharad Pawar’s residence at Mumbai on Wednesday. At the end of a 90-minute meeting, Chavan said, “There are no differences between the Congress and the NCP. We have agreed to adopt the 2009 formula.”

Ajit Pawar even hinted that the party was going ahead with the induction of 21 ministers in the cabinet. Sensing that the situation could get out of control with Congress leaders vehemently objecting to it, trouble-shooter of coalition politics Praful Patel intervened.

“The Congress and the NCP cannot stretch their differences over just one seat when they have decided to work together,” he said. “It does not auger well for the government. The NCP should adopt a pragmatic approach and end this dispute. In 2009, it was mutually agreed that the Congress would have 23 berths and the NCP 20.”