WHAT should a party which won 83 out of 85 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 1984 elections do when faced with a total rout in the 1998 general elections? At the AICC special session in New Delhi, Sharad Pawar hazarded some answers. He said Congressmen should start at the grassroots, "get out of Delhi, Mumbai and other metros and fan out into smaller towns and villages if the party is to be saved". Underlining the critical need for such an effort, he warned: "We have won Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Assam and Andhra. But if we cannot win UP and Bihar, we will permanently be in the opposition."