Sharad Pawar says people's mood in the country has changed vis-a-vis BJP

Pune/Ahmednagar/Satara, April 29 (IANS) Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar said on Monday that winds of change are blowing all over the country and even the people’s perceptions vis-a-vis the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is different now owing to its lapses and failures.

Addressing election rallies for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates in the Shirur and Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituencies, Pawar said he has interacted with thousands of people in the past few weeks while campaigning all over Maharashtra and sensed their desire for change.

“The masses, farmers, workers, youth, and women are upset by the overall working style of the people who got the opportunity to rule the country for 10 years, but have let them down,” said Pawar.

Adding to the crises in different sectors are the clouds looming over the Constitution authored by B.R. Ambedkar which has come under threat from the BJP, he claimed.

“However, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) doesn’t believe so… In all his speeches, he keeps criticising Jawaharlal Nehru and other ex-PMs, and also us… The PM cannot get sleep at night without targeting us (the opposition). He must uphold the dignity of his post through work,” Pawar said.

However, the present regime doesn’t believe in the parliamentary democratic system or the opposition, and how a harmonious relationship between the ruling party and the opposition is required to resolve national problems, the senior leader said.

“When I was the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his senior ministers would often sit with me and discuss issues, they sought our opinions and if they felt we were right, they assured to implement them,” recalled Pawar.

"But the present-day rulers want to change the Constitution, and their leaders are saying this publicly... They have not bothered to hold local elections here for so many years, they do not want the people to have the right to vote for their decisions and are trying to take away the authority vested by the Constitution," he warned.

Addressing a largely rural and farming audience in the rallies along with other MVA leaders of the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), Pawar said. "The people in whose hands Maharashtra is today have no interest in the issues concerning the masses."

“This election is for the country, and if we all don’t play a united role, Maharashtra will face a crisis situation. The masses are clamouring for change and there is a need to achieve it through the current elections in a democratic manner,” Pawar said.

The NCP (SP) chief also spoke about the concerns of the agricultural community, recalling how suicides by the farmers had gone down when he was the Union Agriculture Minister for 10 years.

But the situation has again deteriorated under the current government, he said.

The rallies were also attended by Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, party candidates Amol Kolhe (Shirur) and Nilesh Lanke (Ahmednagar), besides crowds of farmers and youth braving the blazing afternoon sun.

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