Sharad Pawar

Vidarbha

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena

Raj Thackeray

BMCC College

Narendra Modi

bullet train

NCP chief asserts separate state issue should be decided through referendum.Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaderon Wednesday said that the demand for separatestate essentially comes from just four districts, and the leaders spearheading the movement are not Marathis. “If Vidarbha is separated from Maharashtra, then Marathi people will not get to lead. I have taken the stand that if you want a separate state, then you should conduct a referendum.”He was answering questions fromchiefduring an interview held as part of ‘Jagatik Marathi Sammelan’ which was organised in Pune in December. While the interview was originally planned then, it got postponed twice due to various reasons. The interview was finally held on Wednesday atin Pune, where Pawar studied.Pawar expressed concerns about the working style of Prime Ministerand blamed the state government for helping certain organisations to create divide in the name of religion and caste.When asked his opinion on Rahul Gandhi, Pawar said today’s Congress is weak and the Nehru-Gandhi scion has the responsibility of leading this weak Congress. “Today I see that Rahul Gandhi has the will to understand and meet people and learn from experts. This is a good thing. If he continues, the Congress will be able to improve its strength.”On PM Modi, the NCP chief said, “There are a few plus points. He is a hard-working individual. This helped his party win in Gujarat elections. Governing a state is easier, but to govern a country, you need a team of people from various states. The current PM is individualistic and wants to do everything on this own. And keeping this in mind, he not a good thing for a country.”In answer to a question, Pawar said, “We had discussed and suggested that if you want to start a bullet train, start on the Mumbai-Delhi route. They are starting Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train No one is going to Ahmedabad, they will come to Mumbai. Crowd in Mumbai will increase. If we look at the number of people travelling from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, there is no need to start a new train. And to be honest no one can steal Mumbai from Maharashtra.”In answer to a question, he said, “Mumbai is the symbol of economy and hence they want to control it. The governing leaders are supporting this. There are people who fear that this is happening. There are attempts being made. Now, in Vasai-Virar area, we see boards in Gujarati language. They don’t come here for working, they are here for economy.”“It is necessary to provide the necessary finances and help to farmers. You say that waiving off loans isn’t the solution, but they need help. Leaders of all parties need to give assurance that farmers don’t have to commit suicide.”