MUMBAI/BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI: NCP boss Sharad Pawar appears to have mastered the art of starting with a bang only to end with a whimper. The Maratha
warlord on Friday chickened out of the BJD rally he was scheduled to address with the Left in Bhubaneswar after the Congress conveyed to him that his hobnobbing with the CPM and CPI would be treated as an unfriendly act. ( Watch )

In a major climbdown, Pawar settled for addressing the Bhubaneswar rally via the phone, while his representative, NCP general secretary D P Tripathy, deferred to the Congress’s sensitivities by blanking out the Left from his speech at the rally.

The reason cited by the NCP for staying away from the rally-a sudden technical snag in the helicopter that was meant to take the Union agriculture minister from Nashik to Mumbai to take off for Bhubaneswar in a Bombardier Challenger-failed to cut ice with political circles in both Mumbai and Delhi. Even the Left blamed the NCP chieftain’s no show on `arm-twisting’ by the Congress.

In 1991, Pawar had, in similar fashion, dropped the gauntlet after staking his claim for the prime ministership. Friday’s development is seen as a setback to the credibility of the Third Front and an embarrassment for the Left, the mentors of the political toddler. Besides, it has strengthened the perception of Pawar as a quitter with little stomach for a fight.

Importantly, it underlined the Congress’s resolve not to yield easily to its junior partners-a pointer that the party may not oblige those who are planning to question its right to lead the next non-BJP coalition at the Centre.
Only on Thursday, the NCP had belligerently justified its participation in the Bhubaneswar rally, stating that the Congress, having rejected the idea of a national alliance, could not prevent its partners from drawing up their list of friends outside Maharashtra.

Sources said that Pawar blinked after the Congress, through an emissary, put it to him that his presence at a rally which the Left had tom-tommed as marking a challenge to the Congress would not be appreciated.

The caution emphasized by Pawar’s colleagues who questioned the need to antagonise the Congress for the sake of the Left-which counts for little in the NCP’s power base of Maharashtra-also contributed to the NCP boss choosingdiscretion over confrontation with his partner in Maharashtra which will have a huge say in deciding the make-up of the next non-BJP government.

On Friday, Pawar was at pains to distance himself from the Left. “I never said that we are part of the Third Front. I was going there because my party is contesting elections in Orissa in alliance with the BJD. We are with the UPA.” To disclaim any hostile intent towards the UPA, Pawar went on to declare that the UPA would achieve the “magic figure” when the results wereout on May 16.

He said that he had planned to go to Bhubaneswar only because his party was contesting one Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in the state in collaboration with the BJD.

There were few takers for the `technical snag’ reason cited by the NCP for Pawar not making it to the BJD show. Party sources said that the helicopter developed a snag after coming to Mumbai for refuelling and could not go to Nashik to take Pawar to Santa Cruz airport from where he was to take off in a Bombardier.

Political circles in Mumbai quickly pointed out that Nashik had refuelling facilities and there was no need for the chopper to fly to Mumbai. They also said that Pawar, had he so wished, could have reached Santa Cruz airport in Mumbai by road from Nashik.
The Congress, which on Thursday publicly frowned at Pawar’s move to sup with the Left, made a disciplined effort not to gloat over the NCP chieftain’s about-turn. Party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan restricted herself to expressing satisfaction at Pawar heeding the Congress’s counsel to introspect on his proposed move to join the rally in Bhubaneshwar.

But its leaders were clearly thrilled with Pawar’s decision to hold back–that could help the party counter the perception that it could easily acquiesce in any attempt by its partners to revise the terms of trade. Reeling under the huge embarrassment, the Left blamed the Congress for `arm-twisting’ Pawar and tried to put on a brave front by arguing that while the damage to the UPA might have been delayed, it had not been eliminated.

But there was no doubt that with Pawar playing truant, the Third Front experiment had suffered a setback. The incident has also raised questions within the Left Front about the profitability of Prakash Karat’s enterprise in seeking to erect a so-called Third Front with a set of political mavericks.