Sharad Pawar invokes Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s legacy to attack Narendra Modi

Thane: NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday invoked legacy of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to attack BJP`s PM nominee Narendra Modi over his political agenda. "Atalji never asked votes for himself but for the party which he always held supreme, whereas Modi as a leader is all out to break the country," Pawar said while addressing a rally in support of the party candidate Anand Paranjape who is contesting from Kalyan Lok Sabha seat.

Pawar also took a dig at Modi over his recent gaffes. "He (Modi) did not know anything about history of the country. He also lacks knowledge about the freedom struggle and is dreaming to become prime minister," Pawar said. Pawar took potshots at Shiv Sena leadership over "exodus" of leaders from the party in recent past. "There is an exodus from Shiv Sena, and party leadership should do a soul searching on this," the NCP chief said. "Sena MP Waghchaure joined Congress, Anand Paranjape deserted Shiv Sena, Ganesh Dudhgaonkar too joined NCP in a public meeting without asking for ticket," Pawar said. Bhausaheb Waghchaure, a sitting Shiv Sena MP from Shirdi, recently joined Congress after he was denied renomination, whereas Paranjape who was elected on Sena ticket had joined NCP last year. Dudhgaonkar was Shiv Sena MP from Parbhani before he defected to NCP. In his speech, Paranjape said, "the campaigning by Sena-BJP combine against him is centred only on their perception that I betrayed the party". Senior NCP minister Ganesh Naik also spoke on the occasion.