Octogenarian Sharad Pawar doesn't stop making Indian politics exciting. Responsible for forging the three-party post-poll alliance in Maharashtra with the sole purpose of toppling the BJP's juggernaut last November, he is back in contention for leading opposition parties at the national level, which could make him a strong contender for the prime minister's post, the position his NCP colleagues say was denied to him twice in the last decade of the 20th century when he was in the Congress. Upsetting as that might be for the Congress, a pivotal partner in the Maharashtra formation that is idolised by the entire opposition flock that aspires to do something similar wherever the situation demands.

Pawar promptly denied the news that he would be replacing Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the UPA chairman. However, he hasn't commented on the claim made by his trusted lieutenant Praful Patel about Pawar not making it to the PM's office because of the Congress's coterie politics, maybe because many prominent people and leaders have endorsed it much before Patel said it publicly in a news article he wrote on the occasion of Pawar's 80th birthday on Saturday. Good things must be said while celebrating a hero like Pawar, but why should a thing that might upset the arrangement be said when everyone should be together now? Recently, some Congress leaders were upset when Pawar had made a remark on Rahul's leadership. They had issued a caution that the ruling partners must avoid criticising the Congress leadership if they wanted the MVA to remain stable.