In his 30 minutes speech at a rally of NCP workers, Pawar kicked off the election campaign by lambasting Sonia Gandhi for demanding that the Union Government should present a white paper on the infiltration in Kargil and the measures adopted by it to deal with the situation.

He said, ``There might be differences of opinion about the performance of the Union Government in the wake of the infiltration in Kargil. But this is not the time to show them. It's time to remain united and support our brave jawans.''

The Maratha strongman criticised Sonia Gandhi for demanding that the Union Government should present a white paper on the Kargil issue, saying that such a move would demoralise our forces and help Pakistan by making vital information public.

``Congress party was formed to secure independence for the country from the Britishers. It is sad that the same party has taken this stand at such a crucial time. One should be more thoughtful than making unwarranted demands,'' he added.

He said his party would support the Indian jawans even if they decided to intensify the action to curb the infiltration and protect the country. ``Being nationalists, we give the first preference to national interest. We are proud that the entire world including the USA, United Kingdom and China has supported India on the Kargil issue,'' he added.

He claimed that Sonia Gandhi was the one who raised the question of her origin. ``While addressing a public meeting, she expressed the fear that the opposition parties would raise the issue of her foreign origin during the election campaign. After that we thought over the issue and wrote the letter to the working committee. Instead of thinking over the issue raised in the letter, the Congress Working Committee expelled us. People would not tolerate such arrogance for long,'' he said.

He appealed the NCP workers to approach all cross sections of the society. ``Leave the old ways. Do not garland us. Instead, let us wage an agitation for people's rights.'' Tariq Anwar sought to know Sonia's contributions during the campaign for the last Lok Sabha elections. ``The Congress had won five out of the 85 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh during the 1996 Lok Sabha elections but it did not win a single seat in 1998 though Sonia Gandhi was campaigning. Pawar should be the leader of the nation considering that the Congress won 33 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra during the 1998 elections,'' he said.

Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Chhagan Bhujbal, Deputy chairman of State Legislative Council Madhukar Pichad, bureauocrat-turned-politician Shrinivas Patil and NCP leader Vasant Davkhare also spoke.