Sharad Pawar

In an interesting development, Congressmen opposed to the Maharashtra Government's mega-city project abruptly called off their indefinite fast on Thursday afternoon at the behest of their leader Sharad Pawar.Pawar, who has entered the fray for the post of party president, took time off to scribble a message to his supporters back home, suggesting that they stop agitating if the State rulers were ready for resolving the issue across the table.

The copy of the letter, which was released to the local media by the Congress district unit, stated that the party men should call off the indefinite fast if the State government was prepared to hold talks with a delegation of the affected farmers from the six villages near Pune.

Pawar has further stated that he too would be getting in touch with the State government. This message was faxed from New Delhi yesterday to the Congress district unit chief Jagannath Shewale.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.