Pawar wraps campaign with continuity call

In his first full-fledged campaign in the city a day before electioneering comes to an end on Monday, Union Agriculture Minister and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar asked people to vote for continuity at both the Centre and the state levels. He toured the city addressing six rallies covering all the constituencies on Sunday.

‘‘There are eight ministers from the state in the Union Cabinet, the largest representation since Independence,’’ he said. Giving instances of how the UPA government had bailed out the state during drought, Pawar criticised the A.B. Vajpayee-led NDA government for neglecting the agriculture sector and forcing farmers to commit suicide.

Talking about the city’s problems Pawar stated, ‘‘Pune urgently needs a well-planned rail transit system, on the lines of those in Mumbai and Delhi,’’ he said. He even gave the slum-dwellers a hope of pucca houses.

He said the PM had asked the state’s ministers to bring back Maharashtra on top of the industrialisation chart.