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Congress digs out old scandals to pin Pawar

Michael Gonsalves in Pune

The Congress began its anti-Pawar campaign in the state on Sunday by releasing Pawarnama -- a collection of newspaper articles detailing Sharad Pawar's alleged misdeeds, at Pune's Tilak Smarak Mandir.

The Youth Congress rally where this booklet was released gave enough indications that Pawar would be the focal point of the Congress's campaign in the run-up to the forthcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

Among those who launched a scathing attack on Pawar on Sunday were Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Prataprao Bhosale and Rajya Sabha member Suresh Kalmadi.

Bhosale said Pawar making Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins an issue was all sham. ''He left the Congress because he realised his alleged involvement in the Bombay riots would cost him a party ticket.''

Bhosale also claimed that the appointment of Chhagan Bhujbal as head of the NCP's state unit was proof that Pawar's outfit wasn't a national organisation.

Referring to the sacrifices made by the Nehru-Gandhi family for the country, the MPCC president questioned Pawar's contribution both during the freedom movement and in the post-independent era.

"Pawar grew up politically solely on the monolithic strength of the Congress. He was made leader of the opposition in Parliament even though he did not deserve the honour,'' Bhosale said.

Former railway minister and Rajya Sabha member Suresh Kalmadi said the common voter was disillusioned with Pawar's style politicking.

He claimed the Congress would win all three Lok Sabha seats with ''thumping majority" and added that in the Baramati assembly constituency Pawar's nephew Ajit would be ''defeated by a margin of 10,000 to 15,000 votes."

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