Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar hit out against the Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, holding it responsible for the tragic stampede near Mumbai's Elphinstone Road station in which 22 people were killed and several more injured.

Mr. Pawar lashed out against the Chief Minister's acquiescence of the ambitious Ahmedabad - Mumbai bullet train project, stating that if the funds had been used instead to overhaul the Railways and shore up the security of passengers, then the Elphinstone station stampede might have been averted.

"The bullet train project will not benefit Maharashtra in any way. It is merely a massive propaganda project to showcase prime minister Narendra Modi in his home state Gujarat. Had chief minister Fadnavis instead thought of improving the condition of the Railways in Maharashtra, such terrible mishaps would not have occurred, " Mr. Pawar said, speaking in Pimpri.

He further alleged that former Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu had been removed from his post for speaking out against the bullet train project and advocating instead a regeneration of the Railways in general.