No problems with Sonia, says Pawar

At the same time he made it clear that the Congress would seek to replace the Vajpayee government only when it was able to provide a viable alternative.“Certainly the day we will be able to provide a viable alternative we will not wait,” he said, adding the Congress at present had only 141 members. “We do not have enough numbers with us but otherwise Congress has the capability,” Pawar said.

During the interview, Pawar spoke on a wide range of issues including his relationship with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, defeat of the party candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra and subsequent decisions taken by Gandhi as also on the issue of deputy speaker and Women’s Reservation Bill.

Questioning the nature and reliability of the support offered by the CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet to the Congress to form an alternative government, Pawar said he was not sure whether the support would extend to some hard economic decisions a Congress government would take.

“You see numbers is not the only thing. If the Congress wants to provide a stable government then Congress should be in a position to take frank and free decisions whichwill be helpful for the nation. (that won’t happen) unless that commitment is there from every corner. So there is no sense in showing unnecessary hurry,” he said.

Replying to another question, the leader of the Opposition said the BJP government was not functioning effectively. “I have to accept one thing that the promise this government gave to the electorate of an able prime minister and stable government, I think both things are missing today …. poor Prime Minister looks like a harassed person,” he said. “As if he didn’t know what was happening internally.”

Besides, he said many Cabinet Ministers had failed to realise that they were in the government. “Their job is to govern but they think their job is to act as Opposition.”

When asked the senior Congress leader described as a “setback” the impact of the debacle suffered by the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha election in Maharashtra on his relationship with Sonia Gandhi.

“It is a setback. Fortunately we sat together, we resolvedall the issues and now the situation has changed. The new president has come. He is a mature, experienced person who wants to take the entire party together to consult and to revive. That phase is over now. But otherwise the situation is not good,” he said.

Describing the Congress candidate R D Pradhan’s defeat as “a big blow to me personally,” Pawar said it was “surprising because we had planned it in such a fashion that we never thought he would lose.”

Pawar said the decisions taken by Sonia after the Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra were “in the interest of the party” and denied that there was any misunderstanding between him and her.

When asked to comment on widespread allegations that the Gandhi family had never trusted him and that Sonia Gandhi had inherited this attitude from her late husband Rajiv Gandhi, he said, “Still Sharad Pawar is in Congress, still Sharad Pawar is a member of the highest decision-making body, still Sharad Pawar has been deputed some important job inParliament. I do not know why there is this propaganda or publicity.”

Laughing off suggestions that Sonia was pulling strings from behind the scene in his case, he said she “never” interfered in his work and maintained that she had given him “absolute” freedom to be on his own.He denied that there was any possibility of his leaving or being forced out of the Congress party. “That is propaganda. That will not happen. We will be in Congress and we will work in Congress,” the senior Congress leader said.

On the forthcoming election for deputy speakership of the Lok Sabha, Pawar said at this point he could not claim that the Congress candidate P M Sayeed would win.

He, however, said there was a possibility that the BJP would accept the principle that the post should go to the largest Opposition party.Asserting that the responsibility for the failure in tabling the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament was that of the government, he said `they have no guts and there is a tremendous pressure withinthemselves”.

He waved aside as “lie” the government’s charge that a change in the Congress position forced it not to table the bill, saying if such was the case, the government should have attempted to call the Congress party’s bluff.

Acknowledging that there were “some different views in my party,” he maintained that there was also a clear-cut understanding that nobody should oppose this Bill at the introductory stage.”