With Sanjay Dutt out on bail since October, and playing the lead role in Mahaanta, and his father's white topiclad appearance at the odd Congress function, the MPCC's election committee took it as a green signal. On March 21, Sunil Dutt's name was recommended, along with Bombay's three other sitting MPs, to the AICC's central parliamentary board. When the lists came up for discussion in Delhi, Narasimha Rao was told that Dutt was backing out. The filmstar's letter to Rao followed, declining the Congress offer of a fourth consecutive ticket. "They are persuading him to change his mind before the last date for withdrawals," says a Dutt confidant.