PUNE, 26 December 2007 — Against the backdrop of recent assembly elections in Gujarat and growing political instability in Maharashtra, Suresh Kalmadi, senior Congress party leader and member of Parliament, has asked party workers, legislators and municipal councilors to prepare for midterm polls.

Addressing a party meeting in Pune, Kalmadi also advised the participants to plan a strategy to win elections.

Reacting to Kalmadi’s statement about midterm polls, Nitin Gadkari, president of the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the BJP also favored early elections in the state. “We are fully ready for elections any time and have begun preparations for the 2009 assembly elections in Maharashtra,” Gadkari said.

He added that the BJP would ally with Shiv Sena and contest the elections under the leadership of national General Secretary Gopinath Munde.

Denying any differences between the BJP and Sena, Gadkari said, “We are working on a visionary document of promises, which will be fulfilled when we come to power.”

Blasting the Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government, he said it had failed on all fronts and demanded dismissal of the state government to pave way for early elections.

Gadkari said Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ministers are fighting each other, and that Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has openly criticized the performance of the DF government.

Demanding midterm polls, Gadkari spoke about power crisis, farmer suicides and the deteriorating law and order situation. “The state government is like a patient in a coma, and change in leadership alone will not suffice,” Gadkari said.

In response to a question about whether the BJP was confident of victory, Gadkari said, “The BJP’s demand for midterm elections was not connected with victory or defeat, but what we are concerned about is the sorry state of affairs in Maharashtra.”

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said that if Shiv Sena discards its Hinduvata ideology, any secular party would be willing to forge an alliance with it for the 2009 general elections.

Deshmukh was referring to the meeting between NCP President Sharad Pawar and Sena chief Bal Thackeray last Sunday. The Congress and NCP have come together to forge an alliance because both parties are secular, Deshmukh said.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, senior Sena leader and former Lok Sabha (Lower House) Speaker Manohar Joshi said on Monday, “The Sena and NCP can only come together if the NCP President Sharad Pawar accepts the Hinduvata ideology. Anything can happen in today’s political world, but we will never leave the Hindutva ideology to which we are committed.”

In another major political development, Deshmukh on Monday told reporters that the much-delayed expansion of the state Cabinet would take place soon, without revealing any further details. The chief minister’s announcement follows two political developments — criticism of the state government and the meeting of Pawar with Thackeray.

Rane, however, ruled out quitting Congress. He said he never indicated he was leaving Congress and added that he had offered to resign during his visit to Delhi.

“I was carrying my resignation letter as I met Ahmed Patel and Margaret Alva. I was prepared to function as a legislator, but both the senior Congress leaders turned down my resignation,” he said, reacting strongly to the comment of senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi that he should resign if he had any self-respect.