Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Sharad Pawar, ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday alleged PM Modi "crushed" farmers while questioning his contribution towards their welfare
File Photo/PTI
Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleged that PM Modi "crushed" farmers while questioning his contribution towards their welfare.
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"What have you (PM Modi) done for farmers? So tell me what you are doing for the farmers and how you crushed the farmers. Just asking others what did he do?" the Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief said. "Pawar will look at what he did for farmers. It's between Pawar and the farmers, But what did you (PM Modi) do for the farmers?" asked Uddhav. "Why were the farmers in the north sitting on the roads in the cold, wind and rain for a whole year? Why was the black law withdrawn after that?" he said, taking a dig at PM Modi.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's jibe, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said that the PM should give statements keeping his constitutional stature in mind.
"Prime Minister's post is an important post. A PM should give a statement keeping his constitutional stature in mind. I don't know why he targeted me. But I think whatever he said is because of the fact that he was not briefed rightly. Whatever statement PM had made on me, I will respond to that keeping the importance and dignity of PM post," Sharad Pawar said while speaking at a press briefing in Mumbai.
Pawar served as the agriculture minister when the Congress-led UPA government was in office at the Centre (2004-14).
In a veiled attack on Sharad Pawar, PM Modi had said that while the BJP-led government was actively empowering farmers, some individuals in Maharashtra were engaged in political activities under the guise of representing farmers.
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Pawar also claimed that the fear of losing power might have pushed the PM to make such comments.
"He (PM Modi) was there to seek Darshan of Sai Baba in Shirdi, what was the need to take Darshan of Sharad Pawar there? If you see the nationwide picture, there are a lot of states where the BJP is not in power or their government has come after some sabotage in other parties. And wherever there is a BJP government, they are on weak foot. This weakness and fear of losing power may have forced him (PM) to make such statements," Pawar added.
Further, the NCP supremo explained the crisis situation he faced during his 10-year tenure as the agriculture minister under the Congress regime.
"I want to make my stand clear on the statements made by PM Modi in Shirdi about my tenure as Agriculture Minister. I was Agriculture Minister for 10 years from 2004 to 2014. I had a crisis on the very first day of my tenure as Agri minister," Pawar said.
He further said, "I had to sign a document for import of food grains for Public distribution system if that was not done on time our PDS distribution would have been stopped. Subsequently, I decided to increase the minimum support price (MSP) of various crops, MSPs of some crops were increased manifold." (With inputs from ANI)
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