Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief, Sharad Pawar, on Wednesday took a dig on Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Maharashtra for the upcoming 17th Lok Sabha elections. Sharad Pawar called out to Modi and said: “look where he (Modi) has brought the country after five years.” Sharad Pawar also commented that Narendra Modi became Prime Minister by accident.
During the rally in Wardha on Monday, PM Modi claimed that Pawar thought he could become the Prime Minister, but later on, he shied away from contesting the polls due to the fear of strong opposition. He said Pawar “who once thought he could become the Prime Minister, shied away from contesting the elections after declaring to take the poll plunge as he sensed the wind was blowing in an unfavorable direction.”
The remarks from Sharad Pawar came just a day after he promised not to make personal remarks on Prime minister. While he was addressing a rally in Kolhapur, he accused Modi of launching personal remarks in his speech wherever he goes to address his rally. Pawar claimed that he would not do so as he is influenced by his mother. He, later on, went on to say that “personal criticism does not fit into our culture.” He said that PM Modi was expected to talk about new announcements while he was addressing the Wardha rally, but instead, he presented a picture of NCP and talked about the wrong differences with Ajit Pawar.
Pawar addressed the Gandhi family as a generation that laid the foundation of New India. He said that the entire Gandhi family has worked for the upliftment of the country with Indira Gandhi’s struggle to remove the poverty in the country, Rajiv Gandhi worked to bring the modernization and new technology to the country. He said that Gandhi family has never compromised on its principles whereas Modi keeps on criticizing one family.
Maharashtra has the second highest number of Lok Sabha seats contributing to a number of 48. BJP and Shiv Sena have forged an alliance and will be contesting against Congress. The state will go to polls in the first four phases, beginning from April 11.