MUMBAI, June 27: With `unity' being the new theme of the Maharashtra Congress, former state deputy chief minister Nasikrao Tirpude today sounded a sour note with an open letter to Sharad Pawar in which he accused the latter of ``being caught in the vicious circle of your political philosophy of using wealth to gain power and using power to acquire more wealth''.

``This very approach has resulted in throwing you out of power in Maharashtra,'' he has said in his letter to Pawar. Tirpude is an ardent proponent of a separate Vidarbha state and appears to be upset by an effective halt called to the movement by the elevation of Ranjit Deshmukh, who hails from there, to the post of the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).

He renewed charges of corruption against Pawar and called into question the latter's alleged connections with the underworld. Underlining Pawar's massive defeat at the recent party elections, Tirpude ridiculed his ambition to become the Congress president without having much support in the party.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.