New Delhi: Dropping any reference to Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin in its election manifesto, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today (March 26, 2004) said it has "not at all left" the issue and dismissed suggestions that it was a "reserve force" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the post-poll scenario.

"Congress itself is not insisting on the leadership issue. We continue our thinking on the particular issue (foreign origin). We are with the issue and not left it at all," NCP chief Sharad Pawar told reporters after releasing the party's manifesto.

Asked why the foreign origin issue, on which the NCP was formed, was absent in the manifesto, he said, "The leadership of the Opposition front will be selected then (after the elections). Today the Congress itself is saying that. So we are not raking up the issue now."

Refuting BJP's talk that the NCP was its "reserve force" after the polls, Pawar said that his party had already decided to work together with Congress and other like-minded parties.

Pawar also did not agree with the questioner that Rahul Gandhi's entry into the poll fray has raised the dynastic question.

A highlight of the NCP manifesto was its favouring a fixed term for the Lok Sabha and "appropriate representation" for minorities in public services including armed forces as well as semi-Government bodies.

Maintaining that the track record of the BJP-led coalition was a "dirty list of scams", the manifesto said the party decided for the secular alliance as BJP has announced that "their communal agenda has been kept in abeyance as they did not have absolute majority in Parliament".