Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar yesterday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were using a threat letter against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to garner sympathy for upcoming general elections.
Speaking at a party event in Pune yesterday, Pawar referred to a letter seized by local police which had revealed that Maoist extremists were allegedly plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister using a “Rajiv Gandhi-type incident” during road shows before 2019 elections. Pune police had revealed details of this letter to a local court last week.
Pawar said BJP knows it is losing support of the people and, hence, they are using this letter to garner sympathy in their favour. He said he is sure that people of the country will not fall for such tactics deployed by the ruling party and will vote them out of power.
The NCP president said he asked a retired senior police officer about the veracity of such letters, and he had been told in response that such threats are not generally made public in the media but are instead sent to security agencies that take appropriate action on them.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis responded to Pawar’s statements last night by stating on Twitter that he is “not expected to stoop down to this level” as Modi is the Prime Minister of the entire country and he does not belong to any single party only.
Fadnavis claimed that the police has evidence about the letter and truth will prevail. He also said Pawar must indulge in “politics of the nation” and not play “politics of hatred” for political gains.