He spent the better part of his speech attacking Pawar, ``His nationalism was only aroused after he learnt that Sonia was determinded to keep him away from the post of PM,'' Munde charged adding, ``he did not say anything as long as he was amassing wealth as part of the Congress but as soon as Sonia Gandhi clipped his wings he rebeled.''

He likened the ``Italian Congress'' with a janjeer (chain) and the ``Baramati Congress'' with a khanjir (dagger). Munde said, ``the former represented fetters the country would be wearingif it has a foreign PM and the latter represents the dagger which Pawar plunges in the backs of his friends before finding new ones.''

He expressed doubts about the might of the faction ridden Congress, RPI and Samajwadi Party saying, ``They could do nothing to keep us out even when they were solidly united and now they don't even stand a chance.''

He heaped scorn left, right and centre when he ridiculed AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha saying that the Congress was getting a taste of what being close to her meant, referring to her no-show at Sonia's Chennai rally, and said that BSP leader Mayawati would do anything to spite the BJP, finally calling RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav ``the joker in a pack of cards.''

Having criticised his opponents, Munde went on to outline the achievements of the Vajpayee government in the Centre (Pokharan, Kargil and the lifting of sanctions) and the alliance governemnt in the State. ``We are being called the Government which builds bridges, flyovers and roads,'' he said adding,``we have made more than half the state tanker-free.''

Praising the efforts of sitting MLA Digambar Vishe (BJP) he said, ``there was no question hour that went by in the Assembly without Vishe raising questions about the facilties for his constituency.'' He reminded the gathering that Vishe's tenure had seen the construction of nine new bridges and the connection of all big villages by road. He asked the crowd to vote for Vishe again and ``ensure the continuation of development.''

Others present on the dias were sitting Thane Lok Sabha MP Prakash Paranjpe (Shiv Sena), OBC Mahamandal chief Rajaram Salwi, State BJP Vice President Ram Kapse, Vishe and sitting MLA of Kalyan Jagannath Patil besides other local leaders.

The battle in this constituency will be a triangular one between Cong (I)'s Shantaram Gholap, NCP's Ghotiram Pawar and Vishe. While every speaker emphasised how this will prove to be a windfall for the BJP, not many spoke of how Vishe was facing a threat from within his own party. According toinsiders, party-member Jaynarayan Jugal Jakhotia had threatend to resign and work against Vishe after the latter was renoninated by the party. Munde had a prolonged meeting with the dissident members of the party in order to engineer a patch-up.