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Pressure continues to pile on former first lady and wife of the founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings to rescind her decision to contest President Atta Mills for the flagbearership position of the party at the July congress in Sunyani. Key and influential members of the party including a former Spokesman for the Rawlingses, Victor Emmanuel Smith, currently Ghana�s Ambassador to the Czech Republic, have all jumped into the fray. Yesterday, another group calling itself Concerned NDC Youth Forum at Nsawam in the Eastern region, held a press conference at which it called on Mrs. Rawlings to step down for Mills in a move suggestive that President Mills� campaign team was jittery about his chances of winning the upcoming contest. But Mrs. Rawlings, who is also President of the 31st December Women�s Movement (DWM), has always made it clear that there is no turning back. Though they recognize her significant contributions to the party since its formation, spokesman for the group, George Agbenyikey Jnr. thinks it was �infantile� for any person to contest the sitting president for the position. George said, �We are of the view that her timing to contest the Asomdwe Hene is premature and will like to call on her to humbly rescind her decision and rather throw her support behind President Mills for victory in the 2012 general elections.� The NDC youth said they were not jittery about Mills� chances of winning the primaries but rather the humiliation that would befall the Rawlingses on congress day. Ambassador Victor Smith also shared a similar view when he spoke on Peace FM yesterday. Though he was upbeat about President Mills� chances, he was more concerned about the aftermath of the congress, saying it would be a Herculean task bringing other people back on board, in obvious reference to the Rawlingses and their numerous supporters at the grassroots. He thought the leadership of the NDC should have prevented Mrs. Rawlings and Ekwow Spio-Garbrah from contesting President Mills for the position. He believes they could have adopted other approaches in resolving the issues that compelled the two to contest Mills since they were issues that could have been settled easily among themselves, possibly by making compromises. That notwithstanding, he stressed the firm belief that there was still room for talks between the two sides and not to push for an open contest. �I don�t think that�s the way forward for our party,� he added He also harboured the fear that some disgruntled people were likely to leave the NDC and if possible set up a new party after the congress, if they were not able to iron out their differences now. �I think we should avoid what could happen. I think we can still prevent a situation where we have to try after the congress to bring the party together,� he said. Victor Smith stressed the need for the leadership of the party to talk to Mrs. Rawlings and Spio behind the scenes to resolve the impasse.