Dutt dilemma

And if Dutt were to fight as an independent, he would have to join the ranks of rebels a la Mamata Banerjee and also resolve his relationship with several Congress leaders, as he is also on the board of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation run by Sonia Gandhi.

However, sources said Dutt has been under persuasion from national Congress leaders as well to contest the Lok Sabha polls from one or the other State this time round. Among these are Haryana, Punjab and MP. Dutt has also been offered a Trinamul ticket by Banerjee from West Bengal.

In 1996, despite receiving a party ticket from North West Mumbai, he turned down the offer as he wished to free himself of all Parliamentary and political responsibility until his son was judicially freed of the cases filed against him under TADA.

While the former MP was unavailable for comment, sources close to him said he had not yet made up his mind about jumping into the fray per se, whether from South Mumbai or elsewhere.

However, speaking to The Indian Express last week, Dutt had said, quot;I am a man of principles and I will not go against my conscience.quot; He said if his conscience had so dictated he could have contested the election in 1996 from anywhere in the country other than North West Mumbai.

quot;They say I am afraid of Bal Thackeray without going into the basics of the issue. Thackeray supported me and my son at a time when my own party had deserted me. Congressmen described us as traitors. Thackeray was the only one to hold up our nationalist credentials. I would be a third rate man man if I were not grateful to him. But that8217;s about all,quot; he said.

According to Dutt, quot;I differ from Thackeray over my ideology and my principles. I am committed to my party despite everything else. Otherwise I could easily have contested North West Mumbai on a Shiv Sena ticket.quot;

Another dilemma for Dutt is that he is on not unfriendly terms with Deora and had turned down the offer to be BRCC president in July 1997 for this very reason. Unlike in 1995, when the Samajwadi Party cut into Deora8217;s votes leading to his defeat by the Bharatiya Janata Party8217;s Jaywantibehn Mehta, the BRCC president has an advantage this time vis-a-vis seat adjustments with the SP. In a quid pro quo for Hussain Dalwai8217;s election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council, the Congress is likely to find itself left with straight fights against the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in at least three out of six seats in the metropolis, Mumbai North East and Mumbai North West being the two others.

Deora was, however, unaware of this move to field Dutt from his constituency. quot;His priorities are different,quot; he added.