Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a "national calamity" who needs to be defeated in the Lok Sabha polls to safeguard the nation, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said here Monday.
Claiming that the country's democracy was in "peril" and holding Modi solely responsible for it, Pawar wondered whether democracy will survive in the country if the BJP manages to retain power following the general elections.
Canvassing for Navneet Rana, the Yuva Swabhiman Paksh candidate from Amravati Lok Sabha constituency here in Vidarbha region, he dubbed Modi a "national calamity" and said the prime minister should not talk about the ability of the opposition parties to lead the country.
"We can run the country well. Modi need not worry about our ability," Pawar said.
The Yuva Swabhiman Paksh is part of the grand alliance formed by the Congress, NCP and other parties against the BJP-Shiv Sena combine in Maharashtra.
On Modi alleging at Wardha poll rally that Pawar has lost grip on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which has been "wrecked by a family feud", the former Union minister fired a broadside saying, "I am happy in my home. You (Modi) need not worry. You never had a home in your life."
After addressing the rally, the NCP chief wrote on Twitter, "The situation across the country is worrying, the country's democracy is in peril. The only person responsible for this is Prime Minister @narendramodi. It is a question if the democracy will survive if the government of people following this ideology comes to power again."
"Modi criticised (former prime minister) Manmohan Singh for communicating with Pakistan after a terror attack and had asked the government to stop writing love letters to that country. What is the situation now?