Sharad Pawar Says PM Modi Is "A New Putin", Trying To Create Fear

NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar on Monday claimed former prime ministers worked to make a new India but PM Narendra Modi only criticises others and doesn't speak about what his government had done for the people in the last ten years.

Addressing a campaign rally in Amravati for a Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate, Mr Pawar said former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's contribution to the country cannot be questioned.

He claimed some BJP leaders had spoken publicly about changing the Constitution and appealed to the people to not allow autocracy to take shape in India.

A high-profile poll battle is shaping up in the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency where the BJP has fielded Navneet Rana, the sitting MP who won the 2019 polls as an Independent candidate, against Balwant Wankhede of Congress.

Mr Pawar alleged PM Modi was trying to create fear and emulating Russian President Vladamir Putin.

Mr Pawar said he has come to apologise to the people of Amravati for the "mistake" he had committed in the 2019 elections by supporting the candidate (Navneet Rana).

"In the last elections, I had sought the support of people and made an appeal (to elect Rana). People elected the candidate I had appealed for. Time has come to amend that mistake," he said.

Wankhede, who belongs to Congress, is contesting the election as a candidate of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), and Congress.

"After Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, I saw the working of almost all PMs ranging from Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh. Their efforts were to make a new India, but the incumbent PM only criticises," Mr Pawar said.

He said that no one in history can forget the contribution of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru but the prime minister (Modi) continuously criticises him.

"Instead of telling what the Central government did in the last ten years, he (Modi) keeps criticising others," Mr Pawar added.

"We fear that a new Putin is in the making in India", he said.

He hailed Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray for "shouldering the responsibility to protect the national interest" by working closely with the Congress and the NCP (SP) like in the past.