PUNE, 17 October 2003 — A defiant National Congress Party President Sharad Pawar stood firm on his stand that his party would not accept any leader of foreign origin as India’s prime minister.
In an interview with Arab News at Shirur near Pune, the Maratha strongman stated that he as well as his party strongly opposed the Congress Party’s intentions to make Sonia Gandhi a prime ministerial candidate.
An angry Pawar dismissed the ultimatum issued to him by the Congress to clarify his stand on Sonia Gandhi within seven days or face the consequences. The ultimatum has no meaning, he said and challenged the Congress to relinquish power in Maharashtra if it did not agree with the stand of the NCP on Sonia Gandhi.
The NCP president attacked Mrs. Gandhi for adopting a soft approach toward the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and appealed to Congressmen to discard a foreigner — Sonia is of Italian origin — who lacked leadership qualities and courage to fight the communal BJP. “India is a country of more than a billion people, and the country has enough competent leaders to rule the country. We do not need any foreign leader to manage its affairs”, Pawar said.
Defending Sonia against the onslaught of the NCP leaders, Maharashtra’s Congress Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that Sonia’s foreign origin was “no issue at all.” The Supreme Court has already given a verdict in favor of Sonia contending that she is entitled to occupy top constitutional positions including premiership, he added.
He reminded Pawar that his party was a partner in the ruling coalition in the state, and it was expected that Pawar and other NCP leaders would respect senior Congress leaders in the larger interest of the government.
