While party leaders have already been attacking Pawar for raising the issue of Sonia Gandhi's `foreign' origin, they are concentrating more on Pune and the sugar belt of western Maharashtra, from where the majority of the party workers had preferred to stand behind Pawar. The two-day visit of AICC general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, in-charge of the party affairs in Maharashtra, to western Maharashtra, was organised with a view to woo dominant Marathas in this region.

Probably aware of the ground reality that the Maratha community might support Pawar in the elections, Scindia specifically reminded them of the role played by Marathas in history. The sources said Scindia's rally at Shirur, which falls in Pawar's Baramati constituency, was organised to prove that theCongress was still there even after Pawar's expulsion.

At Shirur, Shiv Sena leader Baburao Pacharne joined Congress in the presence of Scindia. Pacharne, an original Congressman, had fought the last Assembly election as a rebel and had lost the election with a wafer-thin margin of 150 votes. Later, he joined Shiv Sena only to return back to the Congress now. Besides Pacharne, a number of Congress workers, who had joined Sena after the last Assembly elections, have joined the party again. A group led by Premsukh Katariya from Daund, again in Baramati constituency, came back to party immediately after Pawar's expulsion.

In an attempt to check workers from joining the NCP, senior party leaders Ramkrishna More and Congress Legislative Party leader Anantrao Thopte completed tour of entire Pune district to stop the exodus. Now the party is coming out with a book - Pawarnama, a collection of statements by Pawar .Sanjay Balgude, president of city Youth Congress said, the book would be released to reveal Pawar'strue colours. A host of Congress leaders including MPCC chief Prataprao Bhosale, Thopte, Suresh Kalmadi, Ramkrishna More would attend the function on Sunday. In another strategic decision, MPCC has appointed Suresh Kalmadi and Govindrao Adik, both friends-turned-foe of Pawar, as observer for Baramati and Khed Lok Sabha constituencies in the district.