Pawar rails against ex-NCP colleagues; seeks BJP-Sena ouster

One should wear bangles if he cannot do any work for people despite being a minister for 13 years, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday as he launched a scathing attack on former party leader Babanrao Pachpute.

Pachpute, a former NCP minister, joined the BJP in 2014. He is contesting from Shrigonda in Ahmednagar district.

Pawar made the remarks in Shrigonda as he canvassed for NCP candidate Ghanshyam Shelar ahead of the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

"Pachpute said at a recent rally that when he was a minister (in the Congress-NCP government) for 13 years the only right he had was that of signing.

 

"But when a minister signs on something, it turns into order, works get approved with one signature," said Pawar, whose 20-year-old party has seen large-scale desertions from its ranks ahead of the polls.

"So, what can we say if someone says he had the right to sign, yet couldn't do anything? One should wear bangles if he cannot do anything for people despite being a minister," the former Union minister said.

Campaigning for NCP candidate Sandip Kshirsagar in the Beed Assembly constituency, Pawar targeted another former party leader and now minister Jaydatta Kshirsagar.

Jaydatta Kshirsagar, Sandip's uncle, joined the Shiv Sena earlier this year and was inducted in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet.

"Those whom we had supported have chosen to walk into some other home (join some other party). People of Beed have decided to put these people in their place," the NCP president said, without naming Jaydatta.

Meanwhile, addressing a poll rally in Anushaktinagar in Mumbai, the 78-year-old Maratha strongman made a strong pitch for ousting the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance from power in Maharashtra.

As he campaigned for party candidate Nawab Malik, Pawar said, "We have seen the terror of the BJP over the past five years. Hence, there is a need to bring about the change."

The former Union agriculture minister alleged no section of the society was happy under the BJP's watch and claimed with the NDA in power (since 2014), 16,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra.

"Mumbai is an industrial city. But what is the condition today? More than 50 per cent industries have shut down...both the farmers and workers are unhappy," he claimed.