‘Pawar not opposed to Manmohan Singh’

All india Congress Committee spokesperson Ashwani Kumar on Thursday expressed confidence that Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar would support the decision of the Congress in supporting a secular government. Speaking to newspersons here at Congress Bhavan,Kumar said Pawar was not opposed to Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.

He said the forthcoming elections would see the victory of the UPA. Kumar batted for Pawar saying that considering his leaning towards the Congress ideology,Pawar has never opposed any of the decisions. On whether Congress would be able to gain a majority on its own,he said the Congress with allies would form the government.

“Many other alliances too will join,” he said. He however did not comment on Left parties’ support. Kumar also said that the Congress gave importance to regional parties. When asked about Pawar’s statement that Congress should accept that it is no longer a national party and regional parties have gained importance at the national level,he said they wanted regional parties with a national perspective. He also came down heavily on the BJP and its leader L K Advani and said that NDA would stand for National Debilitating Alliance (NDA). He gave statistics of how the UPA government had scored in all sectors as compared to the NDA government.