Mumbai . Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar said the people of Maharashtra are eager for political change and expressed confidence that this sentiment will be reflected in the results of the upcoming state assembly elections. Addressing a press conference here along with leaders of other constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Pawar claimed that the morale of the state administration has fallen under the Mahayuti regime while the Maharashtra administration was considered the best in the country. “We want to liberate the people from the present government and I am confident that they will support us,” he said.
He said that in the upcoming assembly elections, MVA will repeat the performance like the Lok Sabha elections. The grand alliance includes Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said the difference in vote percentage between Congress and BJP in the recently held Haryana Assembly elections was only 0.6 per cent, yet BJP got more seats. He said, “Why are the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election results not discussed? After the abrogation of Article 370, the party (BJP) should have won the assembly elections there.
Pawar criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks in Maharashtra in which Modi had said that Congress had done nothing for the Banjara community. He said, “He (Modi) forgets that Vasantrao Naik, who belonged to this community, was the Chief Minister of the state for the longest period.” Congress’ Maharashtra unit president Nana Patole said that the people of the state have never been deprived of their rights by anyone. Will not accept the Prime Minister giving political speeches at official functions. Pawar said Maharashtra’s administration was the best in the country.
“It is now discouraged,” he claimed. The kind of decisions that are being taken recently are like making fun of the common man. Pawar said, “We are making collective efforts to liberate the people from this government and I hope that people Will support us.” Thackeray said every step of the Maharashtra government is being viewed with suspicion, such as the two arrests made in the murder case of NCP leader Baba Siddiqui and even the Badlapur sexual harassment case. Death of accused Akshay Shinde in police encounter.
Thackeray claimed that there are “two police commissioners” in Mumbai, yet the city has seen a rise in crime incidents. Responding to a question on whether the MVA will face the chief ministerial berth for the upcoming state assembly elections, Thackeray said the election will be a contest between the opposition alliance and the ruling Grand Alliance. “Let the Mahayuti declare its chief ministerial face, the MVA will also follow it,” he said. Pawar and Patole said Thackeray had made the MVA’s position clear. Patole said, “Our aim is to defeat the government and not to project the face of the chief minister.
