Pawar may emerge as consensus PM candidate

New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar is eyeing the prime minister's post and may perhaps achieve it too.

The NCP chief hasn't revealed his cards to the Congress while his relations with Third Front parties seem pretty good as well.

"That might be considered," Biju Janata Dal chief and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had replied when asked if he would support Sharad Pawar for the post of prime minister.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo J Jayalalithaa too has expressed her preference for Sharad Pawar as the next prime minister.

"He has the necessary maturity, wisdom and experience to be a prime ministerial candidate," she said.

It's the approval from Third Front constituents that is giving Pawar hopes of making it to prime minister's post.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has already spoken to him up to ensure that NCP supports the United Progressive Alliance, but the Pawar is planning his moves in a very meticulous way even though his party says it doesn't have the numbers to fulfill his ambition.

"Leaders of every political party want to be the prime minister. We have fought election as UPA and our first priority is to form a secular government and to ensure that Sharad Pawar plays a crucial role in it," said NCP leader Praful Patel.

But with Pawar it can never be the last word.

CNN-IBN has learnt that Pawar has already established contact with all parties belonging to the Third Front including Telugu Desam Party (TDP), AIADMK, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), BJD and Janata Dal (Secular).

Pawar is also trying to enlist the support of the Fourth Front led by Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, all of whom are annoyed with the Congress for not allying with them.

Shiv Sena, too, has maintained that if Pawar is a prime ministerial candidate, then they can support him given that he is a Maharashtrian.

But his real problem is to ensure that both the Third Front and Fourth Front constituents can be kept together and not get poached by UPA or Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

"NDA doesn't have the magic figure… they are short of the figure. UPA is also short of the figure. Even our Third Front needs some support. We will discuss how to get this done," said TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

From breaking away with the Congress, to staging coups for the sake of power to joining hands with the Congress again, Pawar is the master of political manoeuvring.

Like L K Advani, this could be the last stand for him too for a shot at the top job. But his plan can only materialise if the Congress and the BJP tally is below the 200-seat mark.

NCP leader DP Tripathi said that Pawar could emerge the consensus candidate for prime minister's post of all secular parties.

Sharad Pawar can emerge as a consensus candidate of non-Congress, non-BJP parties.. There is no harm in that," said Tripathi.

When asked if the Pawar's candidature has been discussed with other parties, Tripathi replied, "It's not about discussing. Naveen Patnaik and others have been talking about it that Pawar is a prime ministerial candidate .It is not merely NCP which is talking about this."

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#Lok Sabha Elections 2009 #Sharad Pawar #NCP #Third Front