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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar Sunday replied to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ remarks targeting him and indicated that the BJP leader lacked knowledge about history and made statements out of sheer ignorance.
Earlier, Fadnavis had criticised Pawar’s remarks attacking Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over his ‘betrayal’. The BJP leader had spoken about Pawar breaking away from the Congress in 1977 and forming his own government, asking, “How can Eknath Shinde’s action be termed betrayal and what Sharad Pawar did in 1977 be called diplomacy?”
Speaking to reporters in Baramati, Pawar said, “When I formed the government in 1977, the BJP, in the form of Jan Sangh, was with me. Uttamrao Patil was the deputy CM. There was Advani (Hashu). The government was formed by taking everyone along. He (Fadnavis) must have been in primary school then and hence has no knowledge about it.”
Pawar went on to say that the BJP leader’s statement was made out of ignorance and there was no need to comment further on it.
He also slammed Fadnavis’s remark that the NCP exploited OBCs for its selfish ends. “Chhagan Bhujbal was the first state president of the NCP. Then Madhukar Pichad. Later Sunil Tatkare. Who are they? I don’t know how much he reads but people do take notice of it,” said Pawar.
The NCP recently observed June 20 as Traitors’ Day (Gaddar Din) to mark Shinde’s trip to Surat along with a few MLAs which led to a vertical split in the Shiv Sena. NCP workers marked the day with protests.
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