Pawar, who closetted here on Sunday with his supporters and held a meeting with nearly 45 legislators (17 members of state council and 28 members of state assembly), is confident to gather support from the traditional Congress vote bank and is currently representing the party in the state legislature and local self government. Already, six MPs from the dissolved 12th Lok Sabha have resigned from the Congress party to protest against the expulsion of Pawar and had expressed their faith and confidence in the latter's leadership.

Against this backdrop, All India Congress Committee general secretary Madhavrao Shinde's fire fighting mission turned out tobe a low key affair as only 17 legislators (11 state assembly members and 6 state council members) and seven MPs (two from Rajya Sabha) attended today's meeting. Shinde's speech was marred by slogan shouting by pro-Pawar and pro-Sonia supporters.

Pawar who is known for his political accumen and manipulations had formed the Samajwadi Congress in 1978 in Mumbai and led the Progressive Democratic Front government. In the 1980 state assembly elections, his party had secured 46 seats while during 1985 polls, it had won 54 seats.

Pawar who wants to increase the presence of his party nationally is quite clear in consolidating his position in Maharashtra first and later work out various combinations in other states. Though he declined to comment on pre- and post-poll alliances at this juncture, various parties such as Trinamul Congress, Telgu Desam Party, Lok Shakti and Janata Dal have not ruled out any possibility of electoral adjustment with the Pawar front.

Interestingly, the ruling Shiv Sena leader GaneshNaik has expressed strong desire to work under Pawar's leadership in a bid to "teach a lesson" to the Sena-BJP alliance in the state. Similarly, Pawar who enjoys tremendous support in scheduled castes, will be a in position to lure Republican Party of India leaders Ramdas Athavale, RS Gavai and Jogendra Kawade who had formed a formidable combine alongwith Congress during 1998 elections and swept the polls in Maharashtra.

All India Congress Committee general secretary Sushilkumar Shinde who had worked in the Pawar ministry in 1978 and later has already announced that the Pawar front will grab at least 9 seats in the coming general elections. Observers said that depending upon the alliances Pawar manage to form, the number may reach between 15 to 25 seats.

Pawar's arch rival and state deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde also shares Shinde's views and said that the Pawar-led front would dent into Congress votes in Maharashtra. "Congress votes will be divided if Pawar could cobble together Republican Partyof India and Samajwadi Party in the state," he added.

Congress would not be able to repeat its performance of the last general elections this time due to the Pawar factor, Munde said. Meanwhile, Madhavrao Shinde alleged that there was a "deep rooted and well thought out conspiracy" cutting across party lines to attack Sonia Gandhi.