For all the high-minded talk of ‘coalition dharma’ and ‘portfolio karma’, the tug-of-war between the Congress and the NCP is, at its core, about rather more mundane matters: it’s about how the spoils of power should be shared. Put very bluntly, the NCP’s grouse is that the Congress, as the biggest party in the UPA, is cornering it all, leaving not even the crumbs for the “smaller” parties in the alliance.