Scindia keeps the heat on Pawar

"Real Congressmen will never support Pawar. History has proved that, those who revolted against the party had no political future. Pawar will meet the same fate," Scindia told the mammoth crowd that responded favourably to him on several occasions. Despite a heavy downpour, Congress workers waited for Scindia for more than two hours.

Entry of Shiv Sena leader Bhau Panghane into the Congress was another highlight of thefunction. In the last Assembly elections, Panghane had lost to Pupaj Gawade of the Congress by less than 400 votes. When Panghane has joined the Congress, Gawade has shifted loyalty to Pawar.

In his hour-long speech both at Shirur and later at Boys High School ground of Ahmednagar, Scindia came down heavily on Pawar as well as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "I will not be surprised if Pawar joins hands with Vajpayee for political gains. But, he will not succeed in his evil designs as we are sure, after the parliamentary elections, the electorate will dump the BJP as well as Shiv Sena," Scindia remarked.

Continuing his frontal attack on Pawar, Scindia said, though he was a defence minister, he did not think it fit to visit Kargil to understand the vows of the soldiers fighting for the cause of the nation.

On the vertical split in the Congress, Scindia said, though it was unfortunate, it will certainly help the party to improve its image. "The expulsion of Pawar from the party has helped theorganisation to restore confidence among the minorities," Scindia remarked.

Secondly, Scindia said even if Pawar has left the party, a section of the legislators have joined hands with him, but the grass-roots level party workers come the conclusion that he left the organisation with an ambition to become the Prime Minister and that he was least interested in the welfare of the minorities and weaker sections of the society."

On the national scenario, Scindia said in the event of Congress is not elected to power, then the picture will be very bleak. "The Vajpayee government has already landed the Centre into unprecedented financial crisis. While we have already become bankrupts, the Centre did not handle the Kargil situation effectively," he said.

Though Pakistan had to withdraw its forces from the actual Line of Control, it succeeded in its objective. Pakistan has succeeded in internationalising the issue and third party intervention. "Till now, it was our policy to bilaterally resolve the disputes. Butby talking to Clinton, Vajpayee has allowed third party intervention," Scindia added.

Along with Scindia, senior Congress leaders and arch rivals of Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Suresh Kalmadi, Anantrao Thopte and Ramkrishna More also made their presence felt at the rallies by spitting venom against Pawar.