He Nationalist Congress Party, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he had lost confidence because this time people want political change, PTI reported.
Sharad Pawar also criticized Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Praful Patel for placing a ‘jiretop’, the helmet that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj used to wear, on Prime Minister Modi’s head, claiming that it showed off the former minister’s ‘lachari’. of the Union. (slavish attitude), according to the PTI.
Sharad Pawar, interacting with Nashik, a journalist from Maharashtra, said, “I visited many places to campaign during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections of 2024. The mindset of people now points towards (political) change and Prime Minister Modi has lost their confidence due to it. “There are favorable conditions for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the state,” the news agency reported on Thursday.
Sharad Pawar criticized Prime Minister Modi for holding a tour in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area on Wednesday.
“Prime Minister Modi took the tour in a Gujarati dominated area. When you are running the nation, thinking about caste and religion is not appropriate. Taking a tour in a city like Mumbai is not the right thing to do. People had to wait for hours and suffered inconvenience over it…Such complaints were received,” the former Union minister said, according to PTI.
Ahead of the tour, Mumbai Metro rail services were suspended between Jagruti Nagar and Ghatkopar stations for safety reasons. Police also closed some adjacent roads due to the roadshow and diverted traffic ahead of the event.
Talking about the `jiretop` dispute, Sharad Pawar said, “Jiretop and Maharashtra have a history. There is a limit to `lachari`. But it is good that they have said that they will take care of it in the future,” he said.
A controversy broke out over Praful Patel’s act of placing a jiretop on Prime Minister Modi`s boss before the latter filed his candidacy in Varanasi. The law generated much criticism from the opposition.
When Prime Minister Modi called the Shiv Sena (UBT) a “fake Shiv Sena”, Pawar said, “What is the ‘nakli’ (fake) Shiv Sena? The real Shiv Sainiks are with Uddhav Thackeray.”
When asked about Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s absence from the ruling Mahayuti alliance’s election-related events, including PM Modi’s tour in Mumbai, he said, “Ajit Pawar is really sick.”
(with PTI inputs)