PM Modi mocks Sharad Pawar for 'running away' from Madha

AKLUJ (

SOLAPUR

): Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his targeting of NCP chief Sharad Pawar when he mocked him on Wednesday for "running away" from the

poll contest

at Madha, a party stronghold. He also slammed Pawar for drawing inspiration from the "Delhi model" of dynasty instead of the kin of martyrs and social reformers.


Pawar, who had represented Madha from 2009 to 2014, had announced that he would contest from there this time too. However, he backed out of the contest a few days later. The party subsequently nominated Sanjay Shinde as its candidate against the BJP's Ranjit Naik-Nimbalkar.

Addressing a rally in Akluj town of Solapur, Modi referred to the crowd as a "saffron sea". "I now understand why Pawar ran away from the contest. He must have realized which direction the wind was blowing. He is a seasoned and big player. Pawar will never let any damage come to himself and his family. He will make somebody else the scapegoat," Modi said.

The public meeting was a joint rally for Madha and the neighbouring constituency of Baramati, another NCP bastion, where the BJP has fielded Kanchan Kool against Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule. The meeting has aroused curiosity in political circles as sitting NCP MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil's son Ranjitsinh joined BJP a few days back. Vijaysinh shared the dais with Modi at the rally though he has not officially joined the BJP.

Modi targeted Pawar for criticising his family life. "He is criticising me on the basis of his understanding and teaching. Family system is the strength and pride of India. I draw inspiration from the families of Bhagatsingh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, the Chaphekar brothers, Mahatma Phule, Ambedkar, Savarkar and Sardar Patel. Pawar has the Delhi model of family in mind and is pleased to learn and serve it," he said.

Modi said Pawar should have learnt from families who had made sacrifices or from the family of his guru late Y B Chavan. "Pawar has no vigour to walk on the path which I have chosen," he said.

Calling the Congress-NCP alliance a "maha milawat", the PM said both parties and their allies have only one agenda - "Modi hatao". "They were earlier abusing me personally. Now, they are talking about how all Modis are thieves. I faced a lot of difficulties because of my background and caste. They talked about my ability and caste. I have been tolerating this for years. But they are now blaming all backward people and communities," he said.

Referring to the Pulwama attack, Modi asked what steps the previous governments had taken on terrorists' attacks. "What did they do about bomb blasts? What did the government do when Mumbai was attacked? They were silent. New India has a new policy: 'Ghar me ghuskar maro'. Don't you feel proud after the Balakot attack?" he asked the crowd.

Arguing that a strong and sensible government was necessary for the country to scale new heights in the 21st century, Modi said the people expect a strong policeman and a good teacher in the villages and a strong government in the country. He appealed to people to decide whether they want a "mazboor sarkar" (weak government) or a "mazboot sarkar" (strong government).

Modi asked the crowd to recall the number of scams that had occurred in the past. He said his government did not have a single blot of corruption in the past five years.

He maintained that the government had recovered loans of thousands of crores of rupees and had shut down more than 3.5 lakh fake companies. "We have brought down inflation. Earlier, leaders and their workers used to eat cream," he said.

Modi said his government had taken several steps such as putting a cap on sugar prices, starting irrigation schemes, Ujwala gas and the export-import policy for sugar. He again took a dig at Pawar, saying the NCP could have achieved all this when he was in power, but his interests lay elsewhere.