Party workers who met him Wednesday evening said they had asked Pawar what would happen if he were expelled. They quoted Pawar as saying ``other options'' would not be explored till such time he was in the party. Throughout the day, party workers went in groups to Baramati Hostel, where Pawar normally stays while in the city.

Pawar, by his own admission, is not going to Delhi for another three days. He has busied himself in a seminar on bio-technology in the city on Thursday. He will be attending the seminar around the time the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meets in Delhi to decide his fate.

On Wednesday afternoon, Pawar told reporters that he would go to Delhi after three days ``because by then PurnoSangma would have also returned'' from his trip abroad. Tariq Anwar, who completes the rebel trio, is already in Delhi.

To a query on whether he was anticipating his expulsion from the party, Pawar said he had not violated the norms of discipline by raising the issue since the CWC was the highest decision making body of the party. ``Let us think positively,''he joked.

Maintaining that he had no intention of floating a new political front minus the Congress and BJP, Pawar said he wanted the party forum to resolve the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin.

Pawar claimed he had not contacted any Third Front leader after the trio's letter triggered a crisis. He said his views on projecting Sonia Gandhi as the future Prime Minister remained unchanged. He claimed that a number of Congress leaders shared his view privately.

``I have been discussing the issue with party leaders for a long period. I know their mind. I will try to persuade them even if they are not coming out in the open at the moment,'' hesaid.

Pawar stuck to his guns, saying his letter was the need of the hour and he had raised the issue only in the interest of the party. When a reporter pointed out that his demand had already been rejected by the CWC, Pawar said he would wait till the party finalised its manifesto and he would then go to the people within the party framework.

He was of the view that the BJP campaign on Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin would be ``ineffective if the Congress party itself promises that only an Indian-born person will hold the posts of President, Vice-President and Prime Minister.''

``A number of countries had such constitutional provisions and India should not hesitate to make such a constitutional amendment.'' The younger generation in the country, he said, was extremely sensitive about the issue he was referring to.

To a query on whether he would accept Sonia's daughter Priyanka as the party leader, Pawar simply said that she had to first join the party and work.

On Sonia Gandhi's resignation from thepost of party president, Pawar rejected theories that her decision was a calculated move. He said Sonia Gandhi had expressed her feelings by taking such a decision and all this had led to the creation of the present atmosphere.