Sonia unlikely to affect power equation: Pawar

“Sonia’s entry will help the party regain its hold in the Hindi belt,” Pawar said. He refused to comment on whether he was keen on contesting for the post of the party president.

On the issue of the Congress’s participation in the government, Pawar said that a policy decision on the issue was likely only after the organisational elections in the party were completed.

Asserting that Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral will be able to provide a stable government, Pawar said that Gujral’s asset is that he himself has a Congress party background. He was an outstanding administrator and an excellent MP in the Indira Gandhi government and had participated in the freedom struggle. Gujral has the vision for international issues and politics. More than that, he has the knack of maintaining good relations with all the parties and the people, Pawar said.

Regarding the situation at the public sector enterprise, Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL) in Pimpri, Pawar said it does not face closure. Constant deliberations are on about changes taking place at the company between the department concerned at the Centre, the factory management and the workers’ union. The main principle at the deliberations has been that no unit at the company will be shut down.

Pawar said that he himself attended three to four such meetings along with the secretary and the minister of the department. The second regulation at the talks has been that the services of all the workers will be protected. Pawar said that the Centre, the factory management and the workers’ union have resolved to unitedly take steps to keep the HAL working, and that no worker becomes jobless. The management has been asked to formulate plans to produce new types of drugs at the company, he added. The Centre has a very positive approach for consideration of all demands made by the workers union, Pawar said.

There has been large accumulation of losses at HAL mainly due to availability of drugs produced by other countries at competitive prices. Secondly, the private companies have a comprehensive marketing strategy as against vast limitations for this public sector enterprise, Pawar said. Efforts were being made to pursuade the Central government to mend the accumulated losses, Pawar said.

The workers will not oppose any moves of privatisation of any unit only on the condition that their services will be protected. Already, one unit has been privatised and there are plans to privatise further more units, he added.

Earlier, inaugurating the overbridge over Mula river linking Aundh and Sangvi, Pawar stressed the need for proper planning of developmental works by taking into account the future needs of the growing townships. The bridge, built at a cost of Rs 1.88 crore, has provided a direct link between Sanghvi and Pune. The PCMC incurred the cost of the bridge. He inaugurated a water reservoir having a capacity of 20 lakh litres at Sangvi.

In his speech, Pawar called for better coordination between the civic administration and the elected representatives. The corporators should work unitedly by breaking the party barriers, he said. The corporators should learn to say `no’ to all works hindering the civic development, while the administration should be always ready to complete all the proposed works. The municipal corporation, he said, had a heavy burden of responsibilities. Its fnancial status is not the same when it was a rich municipal council. The civic administration should decentralise its functioning so that the citizens do not face in getting their works done, he added.