Ineffective execution of welfare schemes and a string of scams led to dismal performance of UPA in Lok Sabha polls, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday.
He also asked the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra to hasten decision-making ahead of Assembly polls due in a few months.
“We brought schemes but failed to ensure effective execution like implementation of the Food Security Act. A lot of time was wasted on the issue of making Aadhaar card mandatory for gas cylinders. In the end, we had to face the people’s wrath,” he told reporters.
Pawar said public anger against the UPA dispensation also stemmed from a series of corruption cases.
“In cases of corruption like the 2G, CWG and coal scams, it was the judiciary which initiated action and so people were angry with the government,” he said.
Pawar, whose party received severe drubbing in the elections in Maharashtra where it could win only four of the 21 seats it had contested, stressed the need for the Congress-NCP government to pull up its socks and expedite the decision-making process to turn the tide in their favour ahead of the crucial Assembly Elections later this year when the combine would seek a fourth term in office.
“If we expedite important decisions in the next two months, then only the ruling combine will benefit,” Pawar, whose party has often been critical of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over alleged slow pace of decision-making, said. Pawar said the two parties will contest the Assembly polls together.
“Congress and NCP, which are seeking the fourth term in office, will fight the assembly polls in alliance,” he said, expressing confidence that the political situation will change and the ruling alliance would retain power in the state.
Pawar said he had expected BJP to win a little over 200 seats and Congress’ tally in the range of 80-100 seats. “However, the actual results were unexpected,” he added.
He said BJP made good use of the electronic media to campaign aggressively.
Pawar has convened a meeting of NCP ministers, senior leaders and office-bearers on May 22 and 23 to take stock of Lok Sabha results in which his party’s tally was whittled down to just four and that of Congress to two.
