Manmohan is Cong’s PM nominee,not UPA’s: Pawar

He also warmed up to Left parties saying he would not ignore their contribution to the stability of the UPA government for four and half years.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai,Pawar said Friday’s meeting at Bhubneshwar was organised by BJD with whom NCP has an alliance in Orissa and not the Left or Third Front.

“We are contesting one Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in that state with the BJD. I am not a member of the Left or Third Front. Even CPI leader A B Bardhan said I was not member of the Third Front but was a personal friend,” Pawar said.

Without naming Union Home Minister P Chidambaram who had appealed to him on Thursday not to share platform with Third Front as it was “opposed to Congress,” Pawar said he did not require advice from anybody other than his own party on how to carry out his political activity.

Pawar said he was a member of the union cabinet for five years out of which for four and half years,the UPA government depended on the crucial support of the Left parties. “I will not ignore this contribution,” he said.

Pawar said he will visit Orissa soon for a day to campaign for NCP and BJD candidates. He said he was supposed to fly to Bhubneshwar from Ojhar in Nashik but could not as the plane that was to fly him there developed a ‘technical snag’.