Targeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he has done nothing for the people of Maharashtra as Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister and has none of the qualities of Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji.
“I am amazed. Pawar was the Union Agriculture Minister. But in his Maharashtra, around 3,700 farmers commit suicide every year,” Modi said.
“There is no chance of you (Pawar) getting Shivaji’s qualities in your character.
“But as agriculture minister at the Centre, had you implemented Shivaji’s water management techniques, farmers of Maharashtra would not have committed suicide,” the Prime Minister said at Tasgaon in Sangli district of western Maharashtra, from where former state Home Minister R R Patil is NCP nominee.
Modi hit back at Pawar who had attacked the BJP saying that the people who had termed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a ‘looter’ were invoking the warrior king to seek votes.
“Stop challenging our ‘Shiv bhakti’,” Modi said.
“I want to ask Sharad Rao Pawar. You speak of Shivaji. It was the Vajpayee government which named Mumbai airport after Shivaji. You were Chief Minister but did not think of it. Even Victoria Terminus was named Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus by Vajpayee government,” Modi said addressing rallies on the second day of his campaigning for October 15 Maharashtra polls.
Modi also slammed the NCP chief for his comments about Shivaji “plundering” the treasury of Surat.
“Pawar’s statement has hurt me deeply. You don’t have the knowledge of history. Gujarat was part of Maharashtra prior to its formation in 1960. We have considered Maharashtra as big brother,” he said.
Asking the people to banish for ever NCP and Congress from the state politics, Modi said, “These are the people who looted houses from Kargil widows, they stole jobs from the youth, they looted the happiness of the poor, they destroyed the hopes and aspirations of the people of Maharashtra. Be it Congress or NCP, they are all corrupt,” Modi alleged and asked people to give a clear majority to BJP in Maharashtra.
