Sharad Pawar wanted to join NDA before Lok Sabha polls: Raj Thackeray

Thane: MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday alleged that NCP president and former union minister Sharad Pawar was planning to join the BJP-led NDA alliance before this year’s Lok Sabha elections. [caption id=“attachment_1748723” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Raj Thackeray said that Sharad Pawar wanted to join NDA before the Lok Sabha polls. AFP[/caption] “Pawar was going to join NDA, but some people in BJP did not let that happen,” Thackeray said, addressing a campaign rally in Thane on Wednesday. There was a tacit understanding amongst BJP, Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, and they were taking the people of Maharashtra for a ride, Raj said. The MNS chief also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for misusing the government machinery for the Assembly election campaigning. Targeting Modi and BJP, Raj questioned the need for the proposed bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Such links were rather needed between Mumbai and the three other big metros, he said. He also asked why Modi needed to campaign extensively in Maharashtra, and whether it meant that local leadership of his party was useless. “When Indian troops are dying in firing from the Pakistani side on the border, the Prime Minister should not be touring the states for electioneering,” Raj said. The MNS chief also claimed that as many as 60 candidates of BJP were imports from other parties. Raj claimed that the projects planned by his party in Nashik (where MNS controls the civic body) were supported by eminent industrialists, but they did not get off the ground because state government had kept the post of municipal commissioner vacant for the last seven months. PTI