The Hindu : Pawar toughens stand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 13, 2003

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Pawar toughens stand

New Delhi Oct. 12 . The NCP chief, Sharad Pawar, today rejected the Congress ultimatum to abandon the issue of the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and said it was free to take any decision, including snapping its ties with the NCP in Maharashtra.

A day after the Maharashtra Congress chief, Ranjit Deshmukh, asked the NCP to rethink its stand on Ms. Gandhi's foreign origin or face the withdrawal of the party from the Democratic Front coalition, Mr. Pawar told reporters in Shirur that there was no question of giving up the issue or diluting his party's stand on it.

He said:

"We sincerely feel that our country with a population of 100 crores has enough competent leaders to rule it and we do not need any foreign leader. We had to leave the party and form the NCP because we dared to raise the issue of Sonia's foreign origin.

"As long as they want to run the DF Government, we will run it. If they don't want to run it, we have no problems."

Reacting to Mr. Pawar's remarks, the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, said the NCP, as a partner in the ruling coalition, must desist from speaking against "our top leadership". — PTI

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