MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President and Federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has strongly criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its divisive policies.
Addressing a huge public rally in Mumbai on Saturday, Pawar said voters need to decide whether they would want to put the reins of the nation in the hands of a party which openly speaks of chopping the hands of a section of the people. “Why does the BJP want power? To cut the hands of the common people?’’ Pawar asked, referring to the controversy raised by Varun Gandhi, BJP’s candidate from Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh.
Pawar also came out in the open support of sitting Congress Member of Parliament from Pune Suresh Kalmadi, thus ending his two-and-a-half year-old acerbic political hostility toward his one-time protégé. He said the NCP-Congress-Republican Party of India combine would stand together as a monolithic structure behind Kalmadi.
The rally which Pawar addressed was jointly organized by the Congress-NCP-RPI combine at the Congress House in Mumbai. Pawar asked his party workers not to bother themselves with what will happen to the local political equations after the poll.
“The senior leaders of the three parties will meet and decided the future course of action after election results,” Pawar said. He appealed to the workers to ensure that the “prestigious” Pune Lok Sabha constituency stays with the combine.
Kalmadi was all smiles as he welcomed Pawar at the Congress courtyard after a gap of five years. “We may have our differences, but we need to adopt an accommodating attitude while addressing the issues before the state and the country,’’ Pawar said.
The NCP supremo also lashed out at Congress leader and former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for stating that the Congress should contest on all the 48 seats in the state on its own instead of forging any alliance. “If what Deshmukh thinks is the best for the Congress, then his party should also form a government in Delhi and Mumbai on its own strength,” Pawar said.
In another development, the BJP appears to be doing a rethink on giving ticket to Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan. BJP sources indicated yesterday that they may try and accommodate her in one of the vacant seats, but it would purely be on the basis of merit.
The development came after a day of her meeting Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and her brother’s outburst against the BJP.
