By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, May 2 (IANS): Dazed after a lightning bolt in the form of Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar's abrupt move to step down, scores of party workers laid siege at the Y.B. Chavan Auditorium, blocking the 82-year-old leader and his wife Pratibha Pawar from leaving till he withdrew his decision.

As the shellshocked top NCP leadership and hundreds of workers heard Pawar's speech and decision to sign off as the party charioteer after 24 years, many were seen breaking down, some unabashedly weeping, and most with moist eyes, unable to believe their ears.

Many top leaders like state President Jayant Patil, senior leaders Praful Patel, Supriya Sule, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Fauzia Khan, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Narhari Zirwal, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Sunil Tatkare, Vidya Chavan, Dhananjay Munde, and others made fervent appeals, some 'begged' with folded hands, urging Pawar to reconsider and retract.

For nearly two hours, the agitated workers kept up a chant of slogans like "Take back your decision", "Sharad Pawar zindabad", "We need you, the country needs you", "We are orphaned", et al.

They were in no mood to listen to Ajit Pawar or Patel, Sule or Deshmukh who pleaded that Pawar Saheb was in the auditorium since 11 a.m. and needed to go home.

"He has to have his meals at specified hours in view of his health needs...Please permit him to leave now... A delegation of senior leaders will meet him today itself and convey your sentiments afresh," appealed both Ajit Pawar and Patel separately.

Unimpressed, many of the workers threatened to "quit from all their posts right now", some warned of "an indefinite sit-in", others gave an ultimatum of "indefinite hunger strike" till Pawar withdrew his decision.

The drama continued for almost two hours as Pawar and Pratibha sat and watched helplessly, without a sip of water or anything to eat, surrounded by emotional party leaders and workers from all over.

Reports came in of strong reactions by NCP workers from Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Ahmednagar and other parts of the state, with hundreds of activists clamouring for Pawar to take back his decision.

Both Ajit Pawar and Patel took pains to convince the protesting workers to at least let the senior Pawar couple go home, eat and take rest, but they were in no mood to relent.

Finally, with the help of senior leaders and his security personnel, the Pawar couple was guided out of the auditorium, as the workers let off thunderous roars of protests.

Outside the venue, scores of NCP workers, women and youth activists squatted or lay sprawled on the floor with a relay chant on an indefinite sit-in, and asking Pawar to continue as NCP chief, and when Sule tried to intervene, they barely allowed her to speak or listened to her pleas with folded hands.

Earlier at noon, Pawar, 82, dropped a political bomb when he suddenly decided to quit as party supremo, at a critical juncture for the organisation, the state and national politics.

The occasion was the release of Pawar's autobiography, 'Lok Majhe Sangati - Political Autobiography', coming exactly 63 years after he joined politics way back on May 1, 1960, and has been an elected representative for 56 years of his political career.

While Ajit Pawar supported his uncle's decision, almost the entire party stood against him, creating a piquant situation for the Pawar clan and giving anxious moments to the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT).

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, along with Aditya Thackeray and MP Sanjay Raut are likely to meet Pawar Sr. later this evening, according to party circles.

As the political scenario shifted to Pawar's home Silver Oaks, the Mumbai Police tightened security in and around, as top leaders from the NCP and other parties started trooping in to meet the reluctant Maratha political warhorse.