Congress, NCP stage protests against PM Modi's Pune visit

The Congress and the NCP stage protests in Pune on Sunday against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Maharashtra city to inaugurate and unveil various development projects.

Before the PM's arrival here, local Congress and NCP leaders in the morning came out on roads carrying black flags and placards, with 'Go Back Modi' written on them, near the Alka Talkies chowk and in other city areas.

Pune city Congress unit president Ramesh Bagwe claimed Modi had in Parliament "insulted" Maharashtra by suggesting that the state had encouraged the spread of COVID-19 to other states.

"We demand an apology from PM Modi, or else he should go back," he said.

He claimed that Modi was inaugurating "incomplete projects and cheating the people of Pune".

Notably, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had on Saturday also said the work of the metro rail service to be inaugurated by the PM was incomplete, and underlined the need to focus more on rescuing Indian students stranded in war-hit Ukraine

On Sunday, local NCP leaders, wearing black clothes, also staged protests in parts of the city.

Pune NCP president Prashant Jagtap said that Modi was inaugurating the metro rail project which was incomplete.

"PM Modi was busy with the election campaign (in other poll-bound states), when Indian students needed to be rescued from war-torn Ukraine. Other countries rescued their citizens from Ukraine in a step-by-step manner over the last one-and-a-half months," he said.

Jagtap also opposed Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's recent remark that Samarth Ramdas was the guru of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The governor was also present with PM Modi here on Sunday during the inauguration of various projects.