Pawar asks Congress to clarify stand on tie-up

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar yesterday said the Congress was sending conflicting signals on the issue of alliance in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and wanted that party to take an early decision on the matter.

"The view of the Congress has still not been clear and there have been some conflicting statements from some of its leaders," Pawar told reporters here.

The Union Agriculture Minister, on his part, made it clear that his party wanted a Congress-NCP-RPI alliance for the polls.

Asked whether he favoured the Bahujan Samaj Party to be included in the tie-up, Pawar said: "We want to stay with the RPI and there is no other proposal. Neither the Congress has talked about any such proposal."

The NCP leader said the recent rains in Maharashtra had lessened some tension of the ruling alliance ahead of the forthcoming polls.

Side-stepping queries whether he would take initiative for forging an alliance with the Congress, Pawar said Ahmed Patel, who is the political secretary to the Congress president would be meeting him on Monday for some other purpose.

Meanwhile, even as Pawar came down heavily on sulking leaders of his party saying those who wanted to quit were free to go, former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has said he will never leave the Pawar-led outfit.

"Now-a-days, there have been different news about me. But I have never talked about leaving the NCP. I will be with Pawar," Bhujbal told reporters at Pachora in north Maharashtra last evening.

Meanwhile, sources close to Bhujbal said in Mumbai that the former deputy chief minister, who kept away from yesterday's NCP workshop in the state capital attended by Pawar, would be leaving for New Delhi yesterday.

Sources, however, refused to divulge the reason behind Bhujbal's visit to Delhi and whom he would meet there.

This would be the second visit of Bhujbal to Delhi in a week's time. Bhujbal, who was earlier expected to return to the city this evening from Aurangabad, where he is currently touring, would now instead leave for Delhi directly from Aurangabad, sources said.