PUNE: Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP ) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that only the Congress has the capacity to provide an alternative to the BJP in the country. Playing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan, he said “achhe din” were on the cards for the Congress as its party chief, Rahul Gandhi, was showing an inclination to “learn and understand” the issues facing the nation.Pawar was replying to a barrage of questions posed by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray during a two-hour marathon public interview held here. He ruled out dealings with the BJP when he said he will prefer an alliance with the Congress.Pawar lauded the PM for being a “hardworking person” and said he was successful as chief minister of Gujarat as he understood the issues there. “But when you are running the country, you need to work with a team that understands issues across various regions. I doubt Modi has that team and inclination for building it (the nation).”Pawar, who had once said he would never work under Rahul Gandhi, recalled the Congress chief’s visit to the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in Pune a couple of years ago. “I was there and I saw him (Rahul) asking questions about cane farming and the sugar industry. He exhibited an enthusiasm to learn new things. Any person who has such an urge can improve and do better. He is ready to travel across the country and learn and understand issues,” he said.The Maratha strongman referred to the BJP government’s demonetization move and said it had caused huge losses for cooperative banks which have a strong presence in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. He produced a letter recently issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank, in which it has been said that the old currency notes with PDCC will not be exchanged and that it should show the money as losses in its books of accounts. “The issue is serious but Modi is not ready to address it,” he said.Pawar questioned the necessity of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. “I am not opposed to the project per se. However, it should run between Mumbai and Delhi or Mumbai and Nagpur. Nobody will travel in a bullet train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad,” he said.When Thackeray asked him how he viewed the bullet train project and similar such efforts by Gujarati businessmen and politicians to “penetrate” into Mumbai, Pawar said, “Yes, there will be efforts to take control of Mumbai as it is the financial centre (of the country). But these (attempts) will not be successful. Both, you (Thackeray) and I will not allow Mumbai to be separated from Maharashtra.”To another question, Pawar said that the local people of Vidarbha do not wish to separate from Maharashtra. “Those calling for a referendum on a separate Vidarbha should know that the local people do not support this demand,” he added.