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'Why should I be expelled?'

A correspondent in Bombay

That's Opposition leader and Congress Working Committee member Sharad Pawar speaking.

"I have expressed my viewpoint at the highest level of the Congress party. Let them now take a decision," he added, "I have a right to express my opinion."

To rewind a little, the senior Congressman, together with fellow leaders Purno Agitok Sangma and Tariq Anwar, had revolted against party president Sonia Gandhi insisting that she wasn't acceptable as a prime ministerial candidate. The three had shot off a letter to her asking her to give up her ambition to be prime minister.

Further, Pawar did not attend Monday's Congress Working Committee meeting, obviously as part of his protest.

Asked what he would do if his demand is rejected, Pawar said, "I can only comment after the CWC takes a decision," he said.

Incidentally, the version the leader gave the press was that he did not attend the CWC meeting as it was called at very short notice. Sangma too was out of the country, he said.

When a journalist pointed out that he had said recently in Varanasi that Sonia must become the prime minister, his reply was that whatever he had mentioned in his letter was whatever he felt now.

The Maharashtra strongman said he was in touch with CWC members and other Congress leaders. He ruled out the possibility of joining the third front or forming any regional party.

His duty as a Congressman, he said, was to strengthen the party. He would continue doing that.

Pawar claimed his move would not affect the election prospects of the Congress, or give any advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Front.

Queried when exactly he felt that a foreign-born leading the country would not be all right, Pawar said, "Whatever I have felt, I have expressed it in my letter."

He denied reports that he had leaked his letter to the press; he had no idea how it reached newspaper offices whatsoever.

Interestingly, one of his adversaries in Maharashtra politics, former state chief minister Sudhakar Naik, was present at the briefing.

"I felt that whatever Pawar is doing is right and that is why I support his stance," Naik said. "Jo ho gaya so ho gaya, usko kyon dahurate ho? (What has happened has happened, why are you dwelling on it?)," referring to his past differences with the Maratha leader.

Congress leader A R Antulay, who had earlier criticised Pawar's stand, for his part, refused to be drawn into a controversy. All he would say was, "He (Pawar) has a right to express his viewpoint."

When one of Pawar's supporters interrupted to say '"Let Antulay first win his own seat before commenting on such issues," Pawar silenced him with a glare.

Nearly 20 Congress legislators from Maharashtra had assembled in the auditorium where the briefing was held to meet Pawar. Prominent among them were Pawar's nephew Ajit, Praveen Bhosale, Arun Gujarati, Ram Prasad Bordikar, Padamsinh Patil, Shankarrao Kamble and former Maharasthra Youth Congress president Jitendra Awhad.

All of them refused comment. They would, they said, address the media only after they met Pawar.

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Why did Pawar do it *now*?

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