Maharashtra Civic Polls: NCP won’t back Devendra Fadnavis govt if Shiv Sena pulls out, says Sharad Pawar

He also appeared to question the genuineness behind the Shiv Sena’s threat to pull out of the Fadnavis government. “Uddhav hasn’t yet made clear if he intended to withdraw support. In fact, by suggesting that his party would continue to support the BJP if Fadnavis waived off farm loans, he has already provided for an escape route. To save his government, Fadnavis would even take this bait,” he added.

Pawar, however, conceded that the fight was between the Shiv Sena and the BJP with Sena seeming to have the upper hand.

He accused the ruling BJP of using “immense money power” in the local body polls. “Those talking about transparency must give an account of how they were able to assemble such money power all of a sudden,” Pawar said, referring to the BJP. Taking a sharp dig at Fadnavis’s campaign tagline “This is my word” on promises made to the voters, Pawar said, “Those who haven’t yet completely understood Maharashtra mustn’t make such statements. Their word hardly counts.”

Uddhav attacks PM over note ban, Ganga clean-up

Stepping up its attack on the BJP on corruption allegations, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking whether the Ganga clean-up “scam” money has gone into Modi’s pockets. “If the nullah cleaning ‘scam’ money has gone into my pocket, then is the Ganga clean-up scam money has gone into Modi’s pocket,” said Uddhav in a scathing attack on the BJP leadership at a rally here . “Modi is wearing Rs 10 lakh suit and then he is talking about former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s raincoat.”

Speaking on demonetisation, Uddhav said the state had suffered a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore. “The BJP must remember that they are not the British government. Lokmanya Tilak had written an editorial saying the ruler should not rule with vengeance,” he said. Referring to removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s photo, he said they will now wipe out history too and say that Modi is the father of the nation.