Pawar eyes UPA Chair now
After losing his bastion in Maharashtra, the Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar may now eye the UPA chairmanship in Delhi. For the Opposition parties in Delhi, Pawar is a tall leader and Congress president Sonia Gandhi has already requested him to coordinate with all like-minded parties. Pawar played a key role in the selection of the Opposition's joint presidential candidate. The buzz in Delhi is that Sonia Gandhi wants to relinquish the post of Congress president. Therefore, Pawar is eyeing the post of the UPA chairman hoping that Sonia may quit that post too. Insiders in the Congress say that Sonia Gandhi had sounded Pawar to become the Convener of the UPA to begin with. Pawar has not agreed as his heart remains in Maharashtra though he is playing an active role in coordinating with the Opposition parties in key matters. With Parliament’s Monsoon session beginning, Pawar may play a major role in Delhi rather than in Mumbai. However, senior NCP leaders in Maharashtra are insisting that he should continue to guide the MVA affairs. After all, it was he who was running the government as a back-seat driver for more than two years. But the Congress in Maharashtra under Nana Patole is unwilling to accept him as the leader and Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray is in tatters. Ajit Pawar as Leader of the Opposition is firmly in the saddle and will assert his authority too. He has no love-lost with Jayant Patil either who is a die-hard Pawar loyalist.
