Date:12/10/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/10/12/stories/2003101210071000.htm

National

Pawar stand not acceptable: Congress

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI OCT. 11. The reference of the Nationalist Congress Party leader, Sharad Pawar, to the "imported leader of a political party'' at a rally in New Delhi yesterday drew a sharp reaction from the Congress(I) here today. The party gave him an "ultimatum of seven days'' to either back down from that view or "go with the Bharatiya Janata Party.'' The Congress(I) saw him "getting closer to the BJP.''

The "double standards'' of working with the Congress(I) in Maharashtra and taking an extreme "anti-Sonia Gandhi" stand elsewhere "was not acceptable,'' the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress(I) Committee chief, Ranjit Deshmukh, said, speaking on behalf of the Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, the former Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and the AICC(I) officials, Vylar Ravi and Mirza Irshad Baig. None of the others was present at a hurriedly-called press conference.

Mr. Pawar, at a rally of his party in New Delhi, had made references to the country's fancy for "imported things, including tamarind'' and "leaders of political parties'' but did not actually name Ms. Sonia Gandhi. But the Congress(I) was quick to draw the inference and said that "her leadership was more important to us than the Government in Maharashtra.'' In Maharashtra, the NCP is the Congress(I)'s principal ally in running the Government.

In a subdued reaction, the NCP national spokesman and MP, Praful Patel, said that it was an independent political party with its own philosophy and if the Congress(I) was offended, then it was for the Congress to take its own decisions. The NCP has contested against the BJP and the Congress(I) in all elections since 1999, when the NCP was formed.

Mr. Deshmukh, however, did not say whether he would convene a meeting of the MPCC to discuss the issue or spell out the possibility of snapping ties with the NCP. It was left to Mr. Pawar to decide. But another leader, Rohidas Patil, said that after seven days, "we may be more harsh.''

Mr. Deshmukh said Mr. Pawar had repeated what "he said in the run-up to the setting up of the NCP'' four years ago. Soon after the post-poll tie-up was worked out in 1999 in Maharashtra, he "had become much milder.''