| The resurgence of the Congress party on the national political scene has curtailed the options for its alliance partner in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
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| The latter has no option but to further cement its ties with the Congress for the Assembly elections, expected to be held in September or October.
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| While the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine has romped home in 13 parliamentary constituencies, the Congress and NCP together have bagged only 23 seats, with the Congress itself having won 13 of these seats.
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| NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who had been toying with the option of an alliance with the BJP-led Nationalist Democratic Alliance (NDA), finds that his party has been able to notch up only 9 seats.
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| The NCP-supported Republican Party of India (RPI) candidate from Pandharpur, Ramdas Athawale, won, taking this tally to 10 seats.
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| The Congress has taken the wind out of the sails of political heavyweights like former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena) who lost to dalit candidate Eknath Gaikwad from the Mumbai north central parliamentary constituency.
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| Similarly, young turk Milind Deora notched a victory over BJP's Union Minister of State for Power Jaywantiben Mehta, and actor Govinda won against Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik (BNP). Gurudas Kamat brought the Congress its fifth Lok Sabha seat by trouncing the BJP's Kirit Sommaiya.
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| Of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena's Mohan Rawli managed to retain only one -- the central constituency (with 1,26,000 votes) thanks to a split in NCP candidate Sachin Ahir's votes (1,02,000 votes) by his uncle Arun Gawli (92,000 votes), the gangster turned politician.
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| Had Gawli not contested against his nephew, the Congress and the NCP would have won all of Mumbai's six parliamentary constituencies.
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| At the state level, a united Congress party, before Pawar floated the NCP, notched up 38 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the 1998 general elections.
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| The 1999 elections saw the Congress and the NCP getting only 16 Lok Sabha seats in all when they were pitted against each other, to the advantage of the saffron parties.
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| Pawar said earlier while a pre-poll alliance with the Congress was possible for the Lok Sabha polls, this may be difficult for the Assembly elections. But the NCP seems left only with the option of forging a similar alliance for the Assembly elections in the state now.
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| While a united Congress was able to do well, a pre-poll alliance between the Congres and NCP was unable to achieve the same degree of success, an aspect that could not have escaped Pawar's attention. Two lessons are contained in the results announced so far for the Congress-NCP combine.
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| The Vidarbha region has seen the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) exhibiting its nuisance factor and putting paid to the hopes of Congress-NCP. The BSP has eaten into the secular votes in the region, an area severely impacted by drought, thereby benefiting the Shiv Sena-BJP combine.
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| This is bound to be a worrying factor for the ruling dispensation in Maharashtra, considering the impact the BSP will be able to have in the assembly elections.
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| Similarly, the Shiv Sena (which won 13 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state) has been making inroads into the western Maharashtra belt, long considered the domain of the NCP and Congress parties, especially in the Kolhapur, Ichalkarnaji, Satara, Karad and Sangli parliamentary constituencies. |
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