Wonderful..absolutely great. Our NCP volunteers in USA are happy that Shri
Sharad Pawar has not let us down and that the NCP will remain a strong force for
years to come. We are all confidant that with the support of all our people who
believe in National pride and honour, the NCP will sweep the next general
elections under the leadership of Mr. Pawar.

I would like to take this opportunity to propose that Mr. Pawar should
officially be declared as the NCP candidate for Prime Minister's position, and
that the party should take this message all over the world to every Indian.

"HONOUR AND PRIDE"




Bharatkumar <bharatkumar007@...> wrote:
MUMBAI: The possibility of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress
Party forming a pre-election alliance receded sharply on Thursday
after NCP head honcho Sharad Pawar disassociated himself from his
own party spokesperson's recent statement on Congress president
Sonia Gandhi.

Disowning the statement made by state spokesperson of the NCP Vasant
Chavan that the party was ready to reconsider its stand on the issue
of the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi in the interests of forming a
secular front, Pawar said there was no change in the NCP's position
on this controversial question.

Pawar also ruled out the possibility of the NCP merging with the
Congress at a later stage. 'We have decided to maintain our separate
identity and we will fight to consolidate our party's position," he
said.

Asked about his offer to go in for a pre-poll alliance with the
Congress in Maharashtra, he added, 'We have asked our district units
to seek our party workers' views on the proposal. There is no
response from the Congress so far.We will finalise our strategy
after the state unit of the NCP submits its report."

Pawar said at a news conference that the Congress should not insist
on other parties accepting Ms Gandhi's leadership as a precondition
for the formation of a secular front.

At the Congress' recent meeting in Shimla, the party had adopted a
resolution calling for the formation of a broad secular front to
defeat the ruling BJP. But the fine print, overlooked by many, was
that the proposed front should be led by Ms Gandhi.

Pawar's statements drew a sharp reaction from city Congress chief
Gurudas Kamat. "The Congress with 120 MPs is already the single
largest secular party and this figure is certain to shoot after the
Lok Sabha polls. It but natural that the leader the largest party
should lead the secular alliance. If anybody is serious about
countering the BJP, he should accept Sonia Gandhi's leadership,"
Kamat asserted.

Another Congress leader said that if Pawar had serious reservations
about Ms Gandhi, he should ask his party pull out of the coalition
government in Maharashtra. Pawar noted that the Congress had earlier
supported H.D. Deve Gowda as the prime minister of a secular
government. Reacting to this, Mr Kamat said it was a mistake
committed by the then Congress president Sitaram Kesri. "We will not
repeat this mistake," he stated.

Mr Pawar also said it was premature to talk about a prepoll alliance
to oppose the BJP in the absence of a common minimum programme. When
asked about the initiative taken by the Congress joining hands with
like-minded non-BJP parties, he said, "The parties willing to join
the alliance will have first discuss the modalities and common
minimum programme before deciding the leadership issue."

As part coalition politics, no party could impose its leadership on
other constituents. He said the Congress' proposal had already
encountered a hurdle,with the CPMled left parties deciding to oppose
the BJP-led front as well as the Congress.

"However, we will continue our discussions for forming a secular
alliance. I have received invitation from Shivraj Patil of the
Congress for a meeting of like-minded parties in parliament."

Najimuddin Bookwala(Manoj)

BharatKumar S Bhandary(BK)


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