Union Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar today attacked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's development model and accused him of ignoring certain sections of society in his quest for power.
"The Chief Minister of neighbouring state speaks about his development agenda...What is development?...Is it bringing all round development in the lives of the poor and bringing smile on their faces?" Pawar said while addressing a meeting to discuss the status of minorities at Y B Chavan Centre here.
He said that they speak of changing face of the country.. "but the entire country has seen how mass murders took place."
In an apparent reference to the BJP's PM candidate, Pawar said, "these people are asking for complete power... But their attitude is to ignore certain sections of the society".
NCP is an important constituent of the Congress-led UPA at Centre and also an alliance partner in the Democratic Front government in Maharashtra.
The Maratha strongman also criticised former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh for quitting the IPS to join BJP.
"Till the other day, he was in charge of the law and order of the city and suddenly one finds he has joined the BJP. Recently, a top official of the ministry of Home Affairs also joined the communal BJP," the NCP chief said.
"..Ideology is not framed overnight, those in the administration are expected to be fair and impartial in a secular country. These people are part of administration for 20-30 years and suddenly (they) join a political party," he said.
Pawar said the presence of such people in government could be dangerous. "I have no objection to them joining politics, but their presence in government is dangerous...All secular parties should think about this," he added.
