Mumbai: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming BJP lost the majority of Lok Sabha seats where the PM held rallies. In the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year, the BJP’s number of seats came down to nine from its 2019 tally of 23. The Mahayuti alliance led by the BJP had won only 18 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Mr. Modi held three election rallies in Maharashtra at Chimur, Solapur and Pune.Last week, he had addressed four rallies in the state and scheduled to hold at least seven more rallies.
Referring to the PM’s personal involvement in BJP’s campaign for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Mr. Pawar said, “It is the right of the prime minister to address election rallies. There is no need to pay much attention to it. But keep it in mind that he had held 16 rallies in the state during the Lok Sabha election and the BJP had lost 10-12 of those seats. So let him come.”
Mr. Pawar also brushed aside Raj Thackeray’s accusation that he relies on the politics of castes. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief has alleged that the NCP founder was responsible for creating rifts among different castes to fulfill his political goals. He has alleged that Mr. Pawar always resorts to caste politics whenever he faces difficult challenges or when the elections are near. The MNS leader has blamed Mr. Pawar for the ongoing tension between the OBCs and Marathas over the reservation issue.
However, Mr. Pawar said he does not give any importance to Raj Thackeray. “He is a leader who gets attention for a few days during the election period. So I do not take him seriously,” he said.