Pawar games: Is there more to it than what was reported?

Sharad Pawar is a very smart politician and capable of outsmarting the congressmen at-least in Maharashtra. This was very evident when he went to meet with the Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackrey. It was reported in the media that he went there to ask Shiv Sena to withdraw their ban on Australian cricketers from playing in IPL matches in Mumbai. Though that also could be one of the items which would have come up for discussion, there is more to it than what meets the eye, in my view.

It is a well-known fact that most of the senior congress leaders are trying to corner Sharad Pawar for the way he has handled the price-rise issue. But as Pawar rightly pointed out, it is the entire union government which is responsible. Of course Pawar did not do his job properly. But it is the government control on agricultural commodities which is the culprit and Pawar cannot get rid of these controls all by himself.

After being cornered by Congressmen on this issue, Pawar had to do something to tell Congress leadership that it is the Congress which needs him and not the other way. NCP has only 9 MPs in the Lok Sabha and hence cannot do much damage to the union government by withdrawing support. But it has enough MLAs in Maharashtra to pull down the congress government there and join with other parties (read Shiv Sena, MNS & BJP) and form its own government. Who is the loser if that happens? Congress. So, by meeting Shiv Sena chief, he wanted to send a subtle message to the Congressmen to keep quiet or face the consequences. If you carefully follow the media reports, BJP has not spoken against Sharad Pawar for the price-rise.

To conclude, the message is, if you live in a big glass house yourselves, you better watch out before throwing stones at people living in pucca houses. This is what Pawar is telling Congress.