Former state minister Anil Deshmukh remarked on Friday that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar ought to have either left the platform in Shirdi in protest or corrected Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he questioned Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s contribution to the farming community.
Deshmukh was referring to PM Modi’s address in Shirdi on Thursday where he performed puja at the revered Saibaba temple and inaugurated a slew of developmental projects. Those doing politics of vote in the name of farmers have made you yearn for every drop of water. Some people in Maharashtra only did politics in the name of farmers. A senior leader of Maharashtra served as the country’s agriculture minister. I personally respect him, but what has he done for farmers? Modi said, without naming Pawar.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Deshmukh, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, said Ajit Pawar was sitting on the dais when Modi made the statement against their party founder. Ajit Dada should have left the dais (in protest) or given proper information to PM Modi so that he could correct his statement (against Sharad Pawar), said Deshmukh.
NCP's founder served as the Agriculture Minister during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre from 2004 to 2014. Prime Minister Modi mentioned that during Sharad Pawar's time as Union Agriculture Minister, farmers had to rely on intermediaries.