Pawar out of PM race

“A Maharashtrian should get an opportunity to become prime minister,” a recent statement issued by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar projecting himself as the most deserving prime ministerial candidate and almost determined by the party to use it as its poll plank died down before boring any fruit.

In a bid to melt differences between NCP and Congress arising out of his claim to be an appropriate PM candidate, Pawar unequivocally said he was not in the race to be the prime minister.

“We contest on limited seats and so it’s not plausible for us to stake claim for the prime ministerial chair,” an extremely word cautious Pawar told reporters on Thursday, adding, “I don’t want to forget the ground reality.”

Meanwhile deadlock over the seat sharing arrangement between Congress and NCP in Maharashtra has reportedly eliminated. No official word has come to this effect so far but the sources said the seat allocation could be 26 & 22 between Congress & NCP. The formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources in both the party said.

Earlier, Congress was pressing for 27:21 equation as worked out in the previous election. Pawar’s backtrack came after thought started cropping up among spate of Congress workers and leaders in Maharashtra, stating Congress should abandon the alliance and contest all 48 seats befitting a national party. The Congress had asked the NCP too to issue clarification on the PM issue.

At a meeting of the district unit presidents called by MPCC president Manikrao Thakre earlier this week, majority of them opined Congress should contest elections alone as saying the alliance had helped the NCP more than the Congress. The NCP was gaining ground at the cost of the Congress, district officials said, adding if we persist with the alliance the party will soon be wiped out by the NCP.

Former chief minister and presently head of the Congress campaign committee, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, had also expressed the same opinion, saying Congress should go it alone.

The central leadership itself was contemplating viewing no development in its seat-sharing arrangement with the NCP in Maharashtra after almost four weeks of talks. Moreover, the clandestine deal between the NCP and Shiv Sena, which was in the pipeline some times back, further had added fuel to the fire.