Modi offers Sharad Pawar entry in NDA

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sprang a surprise by offering Sharad Pawar to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde. However, the NCP founder has ruled out joining hands with the BJP saying “it is not in the interest of the country.”

Addressing a rally in Nandurbar of Maharashtra, Modi said: “Sharad Pawar has made a statement that smaller parties should merge with the Congress. It means that the ‘nakli NCP’ and ‘nakli Shiv Sena’ have made up their minds to merge with the Congress. But, I would tell them that instead of going with Congress after June 4, they should join hands with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. All their wishes will be fulfilled.”

Modi’s offer to Sharad Pawar comes in the wake of the latter’s statement that smaller parties would associate close to Congress or merge with the grand old party. The veteran leader had also said that there is no ideological difference between his party and the Congress.

After the large-scale splits in their respective parties, Thackeray and Sharad Pawar now head Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) respectively.

Commenting on Modi’s offer, Sharad Pawar rejected the possibility of going with the BJP saying that it was not in the interest of the country and he would never ditch the Nehru-Gandhi ideology.

“We will not go anywhere and will not leave the Nehru-Gandhi ideology. Prime Minister Modi has made some comments about the Muslim community in his speeches. We will never join hands with those who adopt such a stand. If we have to take this country forward, we will have to take communities together,” Pawar said in Pune.

Alleging that PM Modi does not believe in democracy, Pawar said, “Today, our parliamentary and democratic system is in danger. The Prime Minister does not believe in our democratic system. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren have been arrested and put in jail. The Centre is involved in this and therefore there is no question of going with them (BJP),” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said PM Modi was making these statements as he was not in a proper frame of mind. “The manner in which the PM is making his speeches is not befitting of a prime minister’s post. He is not aware of what he said yesterday, what he is saying today,”

“We want to destroy Narendra Modi’s dictatorship from this country. This is our dream. We will fulfil that dream after June 4,” Raut added.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde however supported Modi’s statement saying it was always better to follow (late Shiv Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology than to join the Congress.

“The talks of merger begin when the party becomes weak. Both the parties – NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) – have lost their strength and hence they have started talking about going with the Congress. It means they have given up,” he said.

In his speech, the PM accused “fake Shiv Sena of misleading people. Referring to Sanjay Raut’s statement that “they will burry Modi”, the PM said, “I feel sad many times thinking about how much Balasaheb Thackeray would be suffering. Now these fake Shiv Sena people have started taking even the culprits of bomb blasts in their campaign. So, it is not a big deal that they dream of burying me alive. These people have lost the support and trust of the public, their political ground has slipped away.”

However, Modi said “fake Shiv Sena’s” curse will not affect him. “They forget that the 140-crore people of India are my protectors. The ‘Matru Shakti’ of this country is my shield. I have so much blessing from the ‘Matru Shakti’ that these people won’t be able to bury me alive even if they want to,” he said.