Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for ignoring to speaking on the drought situation in Maharashtra. Instead, Mr. Pawar said, he takes a jibe at my family.
Lashing out at Mr. Modi’s “double-standards”, Mr. Pawar said the Prime Minister lavished praise on leaders like Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and candidates who had mismanaged their sugar factories and defaulted in payments to sugarcane farmers.
He also lambasted BJP national president Amit Shah for giving priority to private company owners instead of farmers by waiving off their loans.
Addressing a campaign rally in Purandar taluk in favour of his daughter Supriya Sule (the sitting MP), Mr. Pawar attacked Mr. Mohite-Patil for sharing the dais with Mr. Modi at a recent rally in Akluj.
“The sugar factories of Mr. Mohite-Patil, who was seated next to the Prime Minister at the Akluj event, are in dire straits. Yet, Mr. Modi praised this man [Mr. Mohite-Patil], who has repeatedly delayed payments of sugarcane farmers, by speaking of his concern for them,” said Mr. Pawar.
The NCP chief was specifically referring to the BJP government’s aid to Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) MLA Rahul Kul, whose sugar factory was bailed out by a hefty loan in 2017.
Mr. Kul’s wife Kanchan Kul is the BJP-Sena candidate from Baramati against Ms. Sule.
“The Prime Minister praises those who mismanage their sugar concerns, defer payments to farmers and labourers but bitterly criticises me, who has always upheld the interests of farmers,” Mr. Pawar said.
He also hit out at the Shiv Sena MLA from Purandar, Vijay Shivtare, for making disparaging remarks about Ms. Sule.
“He [Mr. Shivtare] was the one who said that women should not be given tickets for elections. And now, his own camp [BJP-Sena] has fielded a lady [Ms. Kanchan Kul] from Baramati,” said the NCP chief.
Mr. Shivtare, who is Minister of State for Water Resources, has long been a vocal critic of the Pawar clan and has called for their defeat in Baramati, alleging that Ms. Sule had contributed nothing to the development of the constituency.
