December 7: The Congress has pulled out the knives, albeit a little late, and is preparing to expel Ravindra Pawar, deputy leader of the Opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for ``anti-party'' activities. Cocking a snook at Congress officialdom, Pawar had contested the recent Assembly election as an Independent from Trombay after he was passed up in favour of winning candidate, Sohail Ashraf.Even though he lost, party big-wigs continued to be miffed and are on the verge of expelling him from the Congress. Party sources in the BMC said today that an official announcement on his dismissal will be made shortly.Pawar, an outspoken corporator known for his strideent views, is among two Congress corporators who contested the Assembly election as Independents against the party's official candidates. The other is Babubhai Bhawanji, who was denied a ticket in favour of Upendra Doshi for the Matunga Assemby seat. This seat was wrested by Shiv Sena-BJP candidate Chandrakanta Goyal.Opposition Leader in the BMC, K A Bastiwala (Cong) refused to comment on Pawar's imminent dismissal. Pawar himself said he was a little surprised because, ``we should have been expelled the moment we filed our nominations as Independents on August 27. Why wait till now?``I protested against the injustice meted out to seniors who have toiled for the sake of the party. I am in the Congress today. I may be an Independent tommorrow. It does not take away my corporatorship. There are some people in the party who through their high-handedness are creating a situation for rebellion,'' he remarked.
