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A day after his remarks about snap polls in Maharashtra created ripples, NCP chief Sharad Pawar today said it was not his intention to topple the Devendra Fandnavis-led BJP government in the state.
"We don't have any interest in toppling this government," Pawar said, addressing the concluding function of the two-day conclave of senior NCP leaders which began at this coastal town yesterday.
"I did not speak anything different than what I said earlier that we don't have any interest in pulling down the government. But if Maharashtra's interests are not being protected, any party will take a stance," Pawar said.
"But this does not mean that we are out to pull down the government," he said.
"We can be emphatic if the state government is not taking the right decision or if a legislation is not agreeable," he said.
"But the picture painted after my yesterday's speech is exaggerated. We have been given a mandate to sit in opposition. We are ready to take to the streets for any issue which is in the interest of people," he said.
But this does not mean that we want to create instability.
On Narendra Modi's style of functioning, Pawar said, "We don't know about the product but the marketing is excellent."
Referring to PM's US and Australia visits, Pawar said, "Modi said he started the Janadhar scheme. But an RTI query shows there is zero balance in 74% of the accounts under the scheme."
"However, we have been hearing a lot about it," he said. "We must concede that no one can beat Modi when it comes to marketing even a small product," Pawar said.
At Baramati poll rally, Modi asked people to overthrow 'slavery' (of Pawars), but our winning margin rose to over 90000. In Tasgaon, where Modi addressed a poll rally, R R Patil's victory margin was over 20000 instead of the usual 3000 to 4000, he said.
"We must concede that Modi used media effectively. This is specially true in case of social media," he added.
