Congress courts NCP for merger, Manmohan Singh may end up as Congress chief after Rahul Gandhi: This assumes only statistical significance at the outset since it will help the Congress cross the 55-seat mark which will enable it to claim the primary Opposition party.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi meets NCP leader Sharad Pawar in Delhi: Amid feverish speculation on who will get what posts in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government 2.0, the Congress sprung a surprise by holding talks with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party to merge the grand old party’s splinter group back into the party. This assumes only statistical significance at the outset since it will help the Congress cross the 55-seat mark which will enable it to claim the primary Opposition party. Reports said Rahul Gandhi is likely to be the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The party had 44 seats in 2014 and this time, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it won 52 seats, both times short of 55.

If this was not a surprise enough, reports said former PM Manmohan Singh would likely be the next Congress chief replacing Rahul Gandhi who is adamant at moving out of the post. It must be remembered that Manmohan Singh had been mocked for being a lameduck PM since the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi held the reins to government. If the reports turn out to be true, Manmohan Singh would be the oldest Congress president at 86.

This also points at the fatigue borne by Pawar whose party couldn’t crack Maharashtra for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. The NCP’s next gen leadership, Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar, are not as vote-drawing as the veteran Pawar. In the Lok Sabha 2019 elections, Pawar’s grandson Parth couldn’t win from Maval despite a high-profile campaign. Given this situation, the NCP was possibly looking at a limited shelf-life given that Pawar was keen to retire from active public life.

In the 2019 elections, the NCP contested from 22 seats in Maharashtra but won just 4. It won one more seat from Lakshadweep. The party won from Baramati (Supriya Sule), Raigad (Sunil Tatkare), Satara (Udayanraje Bhonsle), Shirur (Amol Kolhe) and Lakshadweep (Mohammed Faizal) Lok Sabha seats.

The NCP came into being in 1999 when Sharad Pawar, Purno Sangma and Tarique Anwar started the party after their expulsion from the Congress over their revolt against the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born president of the Congress then.

Though it looks like a merger more of convenience, it does show that the Congress in Maharashtra could do with core NCP cadre returning to the old monolith. But given the inroads made by the Shiv Sena in this election, the NCP faithful also can spot a future lifeline if the return to Akbar Road doesn’t appeal to them.

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