Congress can be the biggest gainer of the NCP crisis but...

New Delhi: The split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is an opportunity for the Congress to rebuild itself in Maharashtra where it had fallen to fourth position in the 2019 elections.

Ruling the state for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2014, the grand old party bagged 44 seats and trailed behind BJP (105), Shiv Sena (56) and NCP (54) in 2019.

Also read: A lost opportunity? Sharad Pawar should have settled the leadership issue in NCP

The slide started in 2014 when it managed to win just 42 seats.

The developments first in the Shiv Sena and now the NCP have come as an opportunity for the Congress to present itself as a viable and credible alternative to the BJP in the state.

For that, Congress leaders need to hit the ground in Maharashtra with a strong positive message.

The split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP has also debunked the narrative that the Congress alone was vulnerable to poaching. It has been well established now that all opposition parties are sailing in the same boat. There are Eknath Shindes and Ajit Pawars in almost every party and it is just a matter of time before they strike.

Though the elections in Maharashtra along with Haryana are scheduled to be held in October-November next year, there are strong chances that the two states might go to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the coming April-May.

However, the biggest hurdle in the growth of Congress appears to be factionalism. There are many groups in the Maharashtra Congress and the warring leaders, including Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Nana Patole and Prithviraj Chavan, are always at each other's throats.

Their ambitions, aspirations and self-interests hamper the party's revival. The grand old party should assign organisational work to all the sidelined leaders such as Anant Gadgil and strive to end this infighting for its resurgence.

The Congress also has to keep in mind that both Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar might play the victim card to garner the sympathy of the voters and outdo it once again. People still remember how a video of Pawar addressing a rally in the 2019 Maharashtra elections drenched in rain enabled the NCP to retain its supremacy in its traditional bastion in western Maharashtra, where his party's chances otherwise looked grim.

The Congress will have to do a tightrope walk to counter that narrative to emerge as the BJP's main challenger both in the state and national elections. It remains to be seen if the grand old party succeeds in doing so.

NewsDrum had done a panel discussion in June 16 on Ajit Pawar's future move after his earlier coups had failed. Do watch: