MUMBAI, 2 June 2008 — The Congress party yesterday rejected Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar’s offer of a poll alliance and said it was making preparations to contest parliamentary and state elections in Maharashtra on its own strength.
The president of the Maharashtra chapter of the party, Prabha Rau, said Congress was ready to contest all 48 Lok Sabha and 288 assembly seats on its own. However, the final decision lies with party President Sonia Gandhi, she added
Rau announced Congress plans for daylong celebrations in Mumbai on June 15 to mark four years of the United Progressive Alliance government and 10 years of Sonia Gandhi as Congress president.
Meanwhile, party sources yesterday said there was no immediate threat to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh ahead of a crucial Congress Working Committee meeting in Mumbai. Questions arose over Deshmukh’s future after three senior Congress leaders from the state — Deshmukh, his bête noire and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane and former Chief Minister Shivajirao Nilangekar —met Gandhi separately in the past three days.
The sources said there was unlikely to be any change in the leadership of the state unit even though the meeting would discuss the political situation in Maharashtra. Deshmukh has serious differences with Rau, Rane and All India Congress Committee General Secretary Margaret Alva and some prominent members want him sacked.
