New Delhi : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) might have helped the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II sail through the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) crisis in Lok Sabha. But the coalition partner in Maharashtra is not jumping the gun on implementing the policy they helped pass in their own state. In a strongly worded letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, NCP State President Madhukar Picchad has warned congress against taking any unilateral decision on implementing FDI in retail in the state.

The strongly worded letter written by Maharashtra NCP Chief was handed over to Maharashtra Chief Minister by none other than former Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar. This instance indicates that NCP has sent clear message to Congress that the road to implement FDI in retail in the state is not going to be easy for the Congress. Sharad Pawar, NCP President, said, “In Maharashtra, Chief Minister is supposed to discuss this issue with coalition partners. I will also wait.”

At state level Maharashtra Government should bring FDI in retail issue before the NCP - Congress coordination committee and only after discussing there FDI in retail would be approved in Maharashtra. While Praful Patel made the NCP’s stand clear even in Parliament -- pointing out to Kapil Sibal in that his party will decide on FDI implementation in Maharashtra only after a full discussion in Congress-NCP coordination committee. So will the Congress face another bout of ally trouble or is NCP just playing hard to get?