Sharad Pawar-Ajit Pawar ‘secret’ meet: Maha Cong chief Nana Patole says confident of Sr Pawar staying with INDIA bloc

He said that he, too, was in the Koregaon Park area of Pune Saturday, where the two NCP leaders are rumoured to have met at the bungalow of an industrialist.

Patole said, “I had gone to Koregaon Park for lunch… I cannot say if they were there as it is a big area.”

The Congress leader said changes are being made to the sedition law to save former IISER director Pradeep Kurulkar who has been booked on charges of espionage.

“In 2014, Modi had said that he will change all British-era laws. We are now almost at the end of his second term. Why did this not happen earlier? All of us know that Kurulkar is linked to the RSS and he has conceded that. Hence to save a big name linked to the RSS, the bill was brought to Parliament. The timing is certainly questionable,” said Patole.

He also attacked the government over Sambhaji Bhide’s controversial remarks on Mahatma Gandhi. “We have seen that when someone criticises PM Modi, he or she is booked under a non-bailable section although it is the right of the citizens to question and criticise the government. However, Sambhaji Bhide deliberately speaks against other religions and tries to vitiate the environment, but no action is taken against him. This makes it clear that the BJP wants to create a sense of communal and religious turmoil in the country so that people do not question them on real issues,” said Patole.

He criticised Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s claim that the Opposition parties do not possess leaders who can counter Prime Minister Modi. “Only a few months ago, he was talking in a different language. Now that he has got a share in power, he is speaking differently. People of the state understand everything,” said Patole.

Patole said the Congress will soon launch a campaign to “expose the misgovernance of the BJP” and has planned protest marches in all six revenue divisions in the state.