What's the difference between a rally and a press conference. Well, it is big in politics. Sharad Pawar was ready on Wednesday to be together with the Left at a joint press conference, but not at a rally. So he was with the Left and sent shivers down the spine of the his allies the Congress.
In this single moment, did the Pawar-Congress relationship breakdown irrevocably?
The big defiant gesture came in the evening when Pawar shared the stage with the CPM's Sitaram Yechury -- seen to be the architect of the Orissa alliance. And it's here that Pawar gave his strongest indication yet that he could drop the Congress after the elections.
Says Sharad Pawar: "Tomorrow, we don't know what will happen. But if the situation comes we secular forces will sit together and might have to discuss. But I don't want to say anything about that."
Those secular forces could include his new political friends and exclude the Congress.
Says Sitaram Yechury: "Please remember fronts were formed after the elections. In 2009, after the election nobody knows."
For now, they are all united for one cause. That may be so. But it's enough to make the congress nervous.
Says Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan: "We have said earlier it is inappropriate."
And Pawar's presence in Orissa could have far reaching consequences for who governs India next.
