Saturday, June 11 2005 15:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray today (Jun 11, 2005) said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar was "enjoying the fruits of power" by "appeasing" Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Thackeray said in party mouthpiece 'Saamna' that Pawar, who formed the PDF Government in Maharashtra by "ditching" Vasantdada Patil and later was expelled from the Congress, had vowed he would go to the Himalayas and never join the party.

"What happened to that self-respect? Where has your (Pawar's) aggressiveness gone? In order to save his own skin NCP is after the "white skin", Thackeray said.

Thackeray remarks is significant as on May 11 he had shared a dias with Pawar after 23 years and had urged the Union Agriculture Minister to "seriously" consider the coming together of Marathas.

The occasion was the release of Thackeray's photo biography, where former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Janata Dal United (JDU) leader George Fernandes were also present.

Thackeray said at the national convention of NCP in Surat which concluded yesterday, Pawar spoke of adopting the aggressive politics as advised by Lokmanya Tilak at the Surat Congress convention, 98 years ago.

But whereas Tilak was 'Lokmanya' Pawar was 'fakemanya, Thackeray alleged.