NEW DELHI, June 2: Battellines were formally drawn today for the election of the Congress president with Sharad Pawar announcing a major programme including assembling at Ayodhya and a review of the economic policy, and Sitaram Kesri suing for peace in the week before the votes are cast.

With Rajesh Pilot too sticking on, the contest is now formally a three-way one with Kesri's name first on the ballot paper followed by Pawar and Pilot. But of interest today was Pawar's nine-point policy programme and a seven-point Congress revival schedule. The key elements of Pawar's policy for the future are a review of the country's economic policy and assembling at Ayodhya to denounce the Babri Masjid demolition.

Pawar says that the Congress must redeem its pledge to secularism after the party polls and assemble at Ayodhya to ``denounce again'' the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992. The Congress Lok Sabha leader also promised to appoint a high-powered committee to ``review the present economic policy and identify priority areas of self-reliance, defending the cause of the working class, public sector, co-operative movement and anti-poverty programmes.''

This is the first time that any top Congress leader has formally asked for assembling at Ayodhya and a review of the liberalisation policy pursued by former Premiers P V Narasimha Rao and H D Deve Gowda. It was Pawar's way of shedding his image of a ditherer and getting down to serious business.

``All doubts have now been removed that Pawar may compromise and withdraw from the contest. From now on, our strength can only grow,'' said G Venkatswamy, Pawar's deputy in the Lok Sabha and his campaign manager in the organisational elections. What Pawar is doing is to reopen the debate on two major issues in the country : the Ayodhya demolition and the economic policy.

The other seven points in his agenda pale in comparison with these two and Pawar took his opponents unawares. Kesri reacted just before the deadline for withdrawing nominations and sent three of his lieutenants, members R K Dhawan, Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony, to seek peace in the campaign before the election.

All three stressed on keeping acrimony on the backburner saying the Congress was one big family in which everybody had to work together after the elections. It was the first time that the Kesri camp formally sought toning down of the high feelings between the rivals. However, there was a general acceptance that consensus is now a forgotten issue. ``The question of consensus doesn't arise. It is not a question of our desire or wish, it is a hard fact,'' said Pranab Mukherjee.

Added Antony: ``In the last few years, the Congress has been passing through difficult times. It would have been ideal if unanimity was achieved on the president's choice. However, nothing should happen in the next week which will create bad blood in the party.'' This was echoed in the Pawar and Pilot camps.

For the record, A R Antulay withdrew his nomination at 4.35 pm in favour of Pawar and K P Singh Deo, speaking for Pilot, said their candidate had kept his promise of staying in the contest. There were enough indications too that Pilot and Pawar had reached some sort of an understanding on the preference votes.

``I have a general understanding with Pilot. I have been asking people to give me the first preference vote and give Pilot the second preference. On his side, he is also doing the same,'' Sharad Pawar told The Indian Express this morning. And though Singh Deo later said Pilot had made no statement of this kind anywhere, he left the door open for any development over the next few days.

The preferential system of voting can become important in this election going by the Congress rules. All PCC delegates have to give two votes in order of preference, failure to do so will make a vote invalid. Once this happens, a candidate has to garner a minimum of 50 per cent of the first preference votes polled plus one to win. In an electoral college of around 8,000 this would mean that the next Congress president needs around 4,000 plus one to emerge victor.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.