Pawar won't withdraw from race

Sharad Pawar on Saturday expressed his resolve to remain in the fray for the Congress presidency, saying there was need to revive the party and encourage collective leadership.

Pawar, who is in Bangalore to mobilise support from Karnataka leaders for his candidature, said the overall position of the Congress was not good and it was the moral responsibility of all leaders to start a campaign to rejuvenate the party. He was confident of securing substantial support from partymen in various states and said he would campaign in the southern states and leave for the North-East in a week.

He said he had entered the fray only after consulting well-wishers in the party. Those who were worried about the future of the Congress and its survival, he declared, would support his candidature.

Pawar, who arrived in the city along with his supporters G Venkataswamy and V C Shukla, ruled out the possibility of withdrawing from the race. Asked about Rajesh Pilot's candidature for the Congress presidential race, Pawar said Pilot needed some more experience.

Congress president Sitaram Kesri, he said, had done a good job for the party. However, he reiterated the need for youth to take over the party's reins.

Shukla, however, criticised Kesri's style of functioning and charged him with failure to initiate any programme for rejuvenating the party. ''You show me one instance where Kesri had taken any programme to refurbish the party's image?"he asked.

He said the Congress could not be revived under Kesri's leadership. Kesri, Shukla quipped, had been functioning like a provisional president concentrating only on Delhi affairs.

Asked whether he would consider withdrawal of support to the United Front government if he took over as Congress president, Pawar rejected the possibility, saying he would not be responsible for creating any instability in the country. Prime Minister I K Gujral has been doing well, he added.

EARLIER STORY:
Kesri, Pawar willing to step down in Sonia's favour