That is the strongest statement to have come out so far from any Congress leader against Sonia and the group loyal to her in the CWC is quite upset. Essentially, Pawar's statement has two objectives: to stir a controversy in the Congress and prey on the other Opposition parties who have in the past taken strong stances against the Nehru dynasty like the Left.

Some clarity is already emerging on Pawar's possible gameplan when former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar said today the Congress is unlikely to head an alternative government and that Sonia might not be Prime Minister of India. That this comes just one day after Pawar's interview was telecast isbeing viewed seriously by Congress leaders.

The jostle for the number one position in the Congress began almost soon after Sonia became party president. It took one long step ahead when she was also chosen the CPP chairperson, in effect the shadow Prime Minister, and Pawar was relegated to the Leader of the Opposition's post. Since then the Pawar camp has been planning a revival of the Maratha strongman in national politics.

After that came the Rajya Sabha elections in which Sonia's nominee R D Pradhan lost but Pawar's choices Vijay Darda and Najma Heptulla came through, Darda handsomely as an Independent and Heptulla in the third round of counting. That was the first serious challenge to the Sonia camp which responded by sacking Pawar's man Ranjit Deshmukh as the MPCC chief and replacing him with Pawar's rival Prataprao Bhosle.

And now come the doubts cast on Sonia's credentials as Prime Minister. So far no Congress leader, not even 10, Janpath, has come out against Pawar's interview and Pawar, who isin Mumbai, hasn't denied it either. What Pawar is aiming to do is work on his apparent proximity to Samajwadi Party head Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chandra Shekhar, RJD head Laloo Yadav, AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan among others.

When Sonia first entered active politics, by campaigning for the party in the last Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam, Mamata, Jayalalitha and others quickly ridiculed her. And Pawar was always in touch with them and never said a word in Sonia's defence. Leaders close to Pawar said today this will be his trump card in future power games.

Congress spokesperson Ajit Jogi merely said, reacting to the Pawar interview, that the CWC is the apex body in the Congress which would decide on the prime ministerial nominee. In the current CWC, Pawar can possibly count on the support of Jitendra Prasada, Pranab Mukherjee, R.K. Dhawan, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sitaram Kesri and Tariq Anwar.

All these are believed to be unhappy at theCongress' functioning under Sonia. But that still falls short of the majority support.

Sonia can easily muster the backing of Rajesh Pilot, Ahmed Patel, Oscar Fernandes, A.K. Antony, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, Manmohan Singh, Arjun Singh, P.A. Sangma, K. Karunakaran, Meira Kumar and even Madhavrao Scindia. That keeps the balance her way in the party and in such a scenario, even the people ranged against her could change sides as is the normal Congress tradition.

The only real threat to Pawar comes from Pilot who has in the past contested against him for the Congress presidency. Pilot is young, clean and vocal which is why Pawar took him to Baramati in the past for a public meeting, to show that Pilot is with him. Shekhar was also there and today he has swiftly taken Pawar's side.

Pilot was in Rajasthan today and he couldn't be contacted for comments. But he is not the sort to stay quiet for long and what he says could herald the beginning of the Sonia group's offensive.