NASHIK: Speaker after speaker at the Nationalist Congress Party rally at the Golf Club on Sunday hailed party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar as future prime minister.

A sea of humanity poured into the venue of the rally, which followed the daylong convention of the state unit held at Mahakavi Kalidas Kala Mandir. Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal and state NCP chief RR Patil described Pawar as the "ideal leader" who possessed all qualities to lead the country.

"Can't our able leader be made the PM? He has all the qualities and experience," Bhujbal said amidst thunderous applause. Other senior Cabinet ministers Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare, Dilip Walse Patil and Vijay Kumar Gavit, also demanded that Pawar become the next premier.

Bhujbal was more emotional in his speech while making the demand that Pawar becomes the prime minister and, looking at Pawar, he said: "Sir, you are holding us back. You deserve to be the prime minister. Even a person like Lalu Prasad Yadav makes claim for the prime minister's post. Your status is far bigger than Yadav. Therefore you should become the prime minister and this is not only our wish, but that of the entire population of Maharashtra," Bhujbal said.

The issue also was the hot topic at the press conference held by Pawar later in the evening. Commenting on the demand of his party leaders, Pawar a shrewd politician said: "If one has to travel to a distant place, then he has to calculate the distance and petrol consumption. All this has to be calculated before beginning the journey, or else the car would run out of petrol and then the time comes when you have to push the car," Pawar said.

The Congress got a big jolt ahead of the pre-Lok Sabha poll convention of the NCP at Nashik, when disgruntled senior Congress Party leader Govindrao Adik announced his decision to quit Congress and joined the NCP in the presence of Pawar.

Speaking to Arab news, Adik said: "I have accepted Pawar's invitation to join the NCP, and I am joined it because the NCP is a party that is following the true philosophy and traditions of the Congress."

Adik had created a stir in the state political circles by calling for the merger of the Congress and NCP and projecting Sharad Pawar as the prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha polls 2009. He decided to switch sides, as he was upset of having been denied a ministerial berth by chief minister Ashok Chavan when the latter expanded his Cabinet last fortnight.

Adik said he had decided to join the NCP without any pre-condition and was not interested in contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Reacting to Adik's decision to quit the Congress, MPCC president Manikrao Thakre: "We are not at all surprised that he is joining the NCP especially after the kind of statement he had made yesterday."