NEW DELHI, July 1: The time has probably come for senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar to pay the price for his `revolt' against AICC chief Sitaram Kesri. There are strong indications that Pawar's name has been dropped from the proposed Congress-United Front joint coordination committee.Sources close to Kesri say Pawar does not figure in the list of five leaders picked up to represent the party in the high-powered coordination committee to be announced shortly.Although Congress vice president Jitendra Prasada had stated last week that his party had finalised its list of committee members, a formal announcement had been withheld as the United Front is not ready with its list. Now that the Janata Dal is set to elect its leader on July 3, the coordination committee will be announced within the next few days.Sources say that while Jitendra Prasada and Pranab Mukherjee have been chosen by Kesri to represent the Congress from the Rajya Sabha, three former Union Ministers, PM Sayeed, BK Gadvi and Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, have been selected from the Lok Sabha MPs. Sources say Kesri decided to drop Pawar from the coordination committee after several reports appeared against him and Sonia Gandhi in a leading Marathi newspaper chain owned by the trounced Maratha leader. Sharad Pawar had been camping in Maharashtra after his humiliating defeat at the hands of Kesri in party polls.Kesri loyalists were further irked when Pawar refused to step down from his post of Congress leader in the Lok Sabha after his defeat.The Congress president now seems to be paying back by not only removing Pawar from the co-ordination panel, but including Jitendra Prasada in it.Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy has probably been taken on to remove the imbalance created by the induction of G Venkataswamy as deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.The inclusion of BK Gadvi, who is still a minor player in Gujarat politics, has come as surprise. Perhaps his proximity to Madhavsinh Solanki has earned him a place in the panel.P M Sayeed is one of the senior most members of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and an ideal choice to put Abdul Rahman Antulay in his place.only removing Pawar from the co-ordination panel, but including Jitendra Prasada in it.Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy has probably been taken on to remove the imbalance created by the induction of G Venkataswamy as deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. The inclusion of BK Gadvi, who is still a minor player in Gujarat politics, has come as surprise. Perhaps his proximity to Madhavsinh Solanki has earned him a place in the panel.PM Sayeed is one of the senior most members of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and an ideal choice to put AR Antulay in his place.
