NANDED, FEB 10: The Peace `broke out' between perennially warring factions of Maharashtra Congress, or it seemed so when the senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar went campaigning today for the son-in-law of his all time foe, S B Chavan, in Nanded constituency.Pawar demonstrated some of his friendliest gestures and said he had no differences with the former Union minister. He took the entire district by storm campaigning for Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar, who had got the party ticket thanks to hectic lobbying by Chavan with the Congress high command.
Pawar's campaign in Nanded for Khatgaonkar indicates a radical change in the attitude of factional heads of the party after the post Sonia peace initiatives within the party. For the first time in the recent past Pawar, Chavan, V N Gadgil and Sudhakarrao Niak have come around to work with the spirit of forgive and forget.
This was despite the fact that Chavan had succeeded in getting his supporters nominated on five out of the eight Lok Sabha seats inMarathwada, which is considered to be a Pawar strong. At least on two seats, Chavan even got replaced two candidates, whose name had been declared in the first list, in favour his son-in-law other supporters.
Past is is forgotten, says Pawar. ``We are now working as wise and practical Congressmen, trying to push the fortunes of our grand old party.'' These words were also backed by action. Pawar also called upon Chavan at his residence, something that he had never done during the last seven years. Chavan on his side followed up with calling up Pawar at the residence of former state minister, Kamalkishore Kadam, where Pawar had put up.
The normally stern looking former Union minister appeared more like a humble father-in-law seeking favour for his son-in-law rather then acting as a shrewd politician that he is reputed to be.
But Pawar has made it clear that his magnanimity would be restricted to the Chavan son-in-law. ``I will not be campaigning in Jalna and Aurangabad,'' he told reporters. Chavan hasgot his close followers Ramrisihan Baba Patil and Bangar contesting from Aurangabad and Jalna constituencies.
In spite of repeated queries, Pawar refused hazard any guess on the number of seats his party will would in the Lok Sabha polls. ``All I can tell you is that the support for the Congress Party is widening each day and most of this is among the poorer classes and the minority community. This means that our base is returning to us,'' he said. Pawar also avoided discussing much on the Sonia Gandhi factor except saying that she had huge turnouts at her public meetings. Asked if he viewed her as a future prime minister, Pawar said the question did not arise as Sonia had herself made it clear that she was not in the race for any post.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
