lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Apr 29, 2020 07:10 IST

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was resorting to personally attacking opposition leaders, “including me”, as he is unable to talk about his contribution in the past five years of his government.

In an interview to Hindustan Times, Pawar also criticised Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ handling of drought in the state, and spoke about the NCP’s alliance with the Congress. “As of today, nominations are still being filed and the contest is not clear. But, my assessment is that our coalition will go to 22-24 seats and the NCP will get 14-15 seats,” he said, as HT travelled with him during a poll campaign in Pune.

Complimenting his ally, Pawar said, “Congress, as a party, is in a better position than us. They have committed workers in every village.”

He said the workers can be motivated to defeat BJP.

“That’s what I am doing, so the entire attack is on me,” he said, referring to the PM and Fadnavis hitting out at him.

“We (Congress and NCP) are working well together. There is perfect understanding between us.

“So, the BJP is worried about that,” Pawar said.

“They have come to the conclusion that unless we attack Pawar, we cannot survive. Modi came to Wardha and attacked me even though I have no base there,” he said.

Reacting to Modi’s barbs that his nephew, Ajit Pawar, was trying to take control of his party, Pawar said Modi was resorting to personal attacks because he had nothing to say about the performance of his government. “What is this nonsense? This is totally false. My family is together. The question is, what is the use of such issues in an election campaign? It only shows he (Modi) is unable to talk about his contribution. That is why he is taking entire election campaign in a different direction,” he said.

Recently, Fadnavis, too, had said the Congress in Maharashtra was Pawar’s B-team.

The NCP chief said the chief minister and his party were worried that the Congress and NCP were working well in this election. Other opposition parties have also come together in Maharashtra, Pawar said.

“What is unity of opposition parties in Maharashtra? Essentially, it is the NCP and Congress. The Peasants and Workers Party and Raju Shetti’s Shetkari Sanghatana are also with us.

“These parties matter and they are together.

“We are working unitedly,”he said.

Pawar ridiculed the allegation made by senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil that his adamant attitude led to the latter’s son joining the BJP. “I can’t understand why someone wanted a constituency only because his son wanted to contest there? There needed to be some logic,”he said.

In response to Vikhe Patil’s argument that his son was preparing to contest from Ahmednagar for the past two years, Pawar retorted: “Why only his son? Everybody was preparing. Even my candidate was working. My daughter (Baramati MP Supriya Sule) was working for five years before she contested. In an alliance situation, the normal practise is if a party has a seat, its ally should not interfere there.”

Pawar also said he offered to renominate NCP’s sitting MP from the Madha constituency, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil whose son Ranjitsinh joined the BJP.

Asked about his grand-nephew, Parth’s candidature, Pawar said: “There was no pressure from within the family as is being said. We lost the last two elections from the Maval constituency (in Pune district).

“There was a suggestion from within the party’s local unit and our ally, Peasants and Workers Party, that Parth would be a strong candidate.

“As such, the decision was taken based on local calculations.”

Pawar also hit out at the Fadnavis government over handling drought in Maharashtra.