NCP wouldn’t have contested Lok Sabha polls: Jayant Patil

Khamgaon: Claiming U-turn by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on several issues, NCP state chief Jayant Patil on Tuesday played various video clips of senior BJP and Sena leaders to highlight their doublespeak.
Addressing an election rally in Khamgaon in Buldhana, Patil played video clips of Modi’s speeches opposing the GST when he was Gujarat chief minister. Patil said Modi now claims the credit for introducing the goods and services tax (GST).
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader also played clips of Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray and CM Devendra Fadnavis criticizing each other's parties despite being in the coalition government in Maharashtra.
Patil also played clips of Union minister Nitin Gadkari in which he is telling Marathi actors Nana Patekar and Makrand Anaspure that he never believed the BJP would form the government at the Centre and state in 2014 and, therefore, he and Fadnavis made tall promises to the people during election rallies. In one of the clips, Gadkari is seen telling the audience that those who didn’t fulfil promises, people thrash them.
Launching a blistering attack on Modi, Patil called on the people to throw the anti-poor and anti-farmer government out of power from the Centre and state. “He (Modi) not only failed to fulfill tall promises made in 2014, but didn’t even raise those issues now in his speeches. Modi assured to develop India like Japan, but he made it like Nepal. If he had fulfilled all promises, we would have not fought the elections,” Patil said.
Taking a jibe on NDA’s chowkidar campaign, the NCP stalwart said only rich industrialists like Ambani and Adani need security guards at their homes, the poor and middle class can’t afford to deploy them.
Patil said, “By imposing demonetization and GST on hapless citizens, Modi made a large number of workers unemployed and caused huge losses to small traders. It also led to closure of a large part of textile industry. Small traders were out of business for two to four months and it led to unemployment rate skyrocketing to 45 years high, as was revealed by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Modi also promised two crore jobs every year, but failed on that front too.”
Elaborating on Congress’s NYAY scheme assuring Rs72,000/year aid to 20% of the poor Indians, Patil said the scheme was designed by former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. “Rajan was forced to quit by Modi government which wanted to take control of all constitutional institutions. Even his successor Urijit Patel also resigned after Modi wanted the RBI to part with Rs3.5 lakh crore of its reserves. The apex bank keeps Rs9.5 lakh crore as reserves for tackling emergency situations like recession, but this government is eyeing that money too,” said Patil.
Without naming the present RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, Patil pointed out that he doesn’t even possess qualification in economics, but had pursued education in arts. “Never in the RBI’s history that a person who is not an economist been appointed as the apex bank governor. Also, questions on the intention of the government in introducing Rs2,000 currency note remain unanswered,” Patil said.
On Modi targeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Patil said the latter has become a hurdle for the BJP as he is the only person who can bind all non-NDA parties together, be it Mamata Banerjee or Chandrababu Naidu. “Pawar has the ability to bring all opposition parties on a single platform to form the government, which is perceived as a threat by Modi. Time has come to teach the saffron parties a befitting lesson,” the NCP leader said.
Patil also accused Fadnavis of propping up a dummy outfit in the form of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) by Prakash Ambedkar, to split anti-BJP votes. “But you should realize the folly and defeat the anti-Dalit forces by voting for Rajendra Shingane,” he said.
Former minister Rajkumar Bang, MLC Prakash Gajbhiye, ex-MLA Dilipkumar Sananda, Nana Pokhare and NCP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Buldhana Shingane were present in the rally at Gandhi Chowk.