NEW DELHI, March 10: At 6 Rakabganj Road, Sharad Pawar's residence, the staff is busy burning the telephone lines. The Maharashtra leader is drumming up support at various levels outside the Congress to gain prominence within the party.The past 24 hours saw Pawar re-establishing contacts with Jayalalitha and Mamata Bannerjee in Delhi. He has also initiated fresh talks with, among others, Chandrababu Naidu, Om Prakash Chautala, Gegong Apang and the four independent MPs from North-East. Observers view it as his last minute attempts to emerge as the most important Congressman who will call the shots after Atal Bihari Vajpayee gets sworn in as the prime minister.
An unexpected visitor at Pawar's house last night was senior United Front (UF) member Sisram Ola who has already announced his aversion for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). None knows what transpired during the behind the doors Pawar-Ola meeting, but immediately afterwards, Ola rushed to attend the farewell party of the UF cabinet ministers.Sources close to Pawar, however, maintained that his fresh attempts at creating a rapport with the BJP allies (Naidu, Jayalalitha, Mamata and Chautala being the prominent ones) are aimed at scuttling Vajpayee's government as soon as possible -- besides, of course, increasing his power within the Congress.
Manmohan Singh has reportedly advised Pawar that the best time to strike the BJP government would be during its annual budget presentation (or vote on account this time). With the economic situation being what it is, it would be exceedingly difficult for Vajpayee to prevent heavy taxation, he was told.
Not content with meeting Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang, Pawar has also spoken in detail with the four MPs from North-East who have reportedly decided to side with Apang. These include one each from Manipur and Mizoram and two from Assam. One of them, A F Golam Osmani, of the United Minority Front, has expressed his reservations about supporting the BJP as its existing stance went againstthe minorities in Assam.
Asked if he would press his case for the CPP leadership in the next meeting of the party's Working Committee, Pawar's cryptic reply was ``let's see what happens.''
Sonia factor is still troubling Pawar, but his supporters insist it would not bog him down for long. Despite repeated visits to 10, Janpath in the recent days, he has failed to build bridges with Rajiv Gandhi's widow.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
