Pune: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) here, despite sharing the dais with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, while inaugurating the Pune Metro rail project ahead of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) election scheduled to be held in February next year.
“At the time of Assembly elections in 2014, I had said that for 15 years, the wheel of Maharashtra is stuck in the mud and it needs a double engine, one in Delhi and in the State to dig it out of its morass. I thank the people for bringing the BJP to power in both the Centre and the State,” Mr. Modi said.
He said that had the Pune Metro project been sanctioned earlier, the citizens of Pune wouldn’t have had to endure regular traffic snarls. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by 2019, while the deadline for the completion of the second phase is 2021.
The inauguration of the project has been a bone of contention for the last week, with the BJP, Congress and the NCP all wrangling to take credit for the project. The Congress and the NCP alleged that the Centre’s sanction of the project so close to the civic polls smacked of political expediency.
The Congress had registered a symbolic protest on Friday, with former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurating the project.
Speaking during Saturday’s event, Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu said, “Despite political differences, we have great respect for Mr. Pawar especially owing to his affinity with farmers and expertise on agricultural issues.”
Justifying the demonetisation move, Mr. Modi said, “If the evils of corruption and black money were removed earlier, 125 crore Indians wouldn’t have had to suffer long queues.”
