``I am not gunning for the job. That is not the intention at all,'' he asserted in a brief chat today and ruled out any scope of a compromise on the issue that seems to have paralysed the party across the country. There can be no compromise and the only way out of the impasse is for the Congress Working Committee to discuss and resolve the issue we have raised in the letter, he said.

In a not-too-convincing attempt to explain his new stand, Pawar merely said that the issue of Sonia's foreign origin was brought to centre-stage at ``the appropriate time and forum''. It is only when the election manifesto is being discussed and the party's policies and possible changes are being debated, that such issuescan be raised at a party forum which is what we did, he explained.

Discontent has been simmering on this issue across the party rank-and-file since the last few months ever since the BJP pitched it as an election issue and the party's highest policy-making body ought to resolve it and give direction to the grassroots to counter the Opposition campaign, he stated.

``The Congress will only benefit if we sort out this issue and say it clearly in our manifesto.''

Pawar strongly denied that his stand and the letter was indirectly helping the BJP campaign. ``Only when the Congress sorts out the issue internally and finishes it will it stop being an election issue. Resolving it within the party means taking the winds out of the BJP's sails. That's what we wanted,'' he said. The rebel trio had not bargained for Gandhi's resignation or the response it would evoke. They will decide on the future course of action once Sangma returns from the US on May 20.

Meanwhile, Pawar steered clear of targeting Sonia in anymanner but trained his guns on CWC colleagues. ``I have no grudge against her and absolutely no objection to her being the party president,'' he said, ``but there are some senior leaders who have no mass base and no rapport with the rank-and-file but are deciding things at the national headquarters for years together.

Such problems arise because of the initiative taken by these types of people. Everyone knows who they are but Congress structure and thinking prevents them from saying it openly.'' He claimed that ``lakhs and lakhs'' of partymen from across the country had sought some direction and answers on Gandhi's foreign-born status in the last two months, if only to counter the Opposition campaign in their home areas.