Sonia Gandhi rejects Sharad Pawar's remark that Congress responsible for breakup

JAMMU: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today rejected NCP chief Sharad Pawar's remark that her party was responsible for ending their 15-year-old alliance over seat-sharing in Maharashtra.

"The reason for it (severing of ties) was not us, not me, not Rahul, not Congress," Gandhi told reporters here when asked about Pawar's reported remarks that Congress was responsible for the alliance break up.

Pawar had reportedly said that his party was noticing for long that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and his team were trying to marginalize alliance partners.

The NCP-Congress tie-up came about in 1999 ironically even after Sharad Pawar led a revolt against Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and formed the party.

The two parties had been sharing power in Maharashtra for 15 years and NCP was a part of the Congress-led UPA government for past ten years.

The breakup of the alliance has led to charges and countercharges from the two parties with leaders like former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan holding Pawar's nephew and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar responsible for the split.