Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday targeted Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) president and political ace Sharad Pawar in a recent interaction. Fadnavis said that Pawar could be a gold medallist if there is a competition of breaking parties in the country.
Speaking at an event organised by India Today Group's sister concern Mumbai Tak, Fadnavis said that Sharad Pawar has the highest record of breaking political parties in the country.
"Tell me one thing. How many parties did Pawar saheb break? Till date, the record of breaking parties is most in the name of Pawar saheb. If there is a competition to break parties in this country, the gold medal will be given to Pawar saheb," he said.
Fadnavis also punctured the opposition's 'sympathy factor' narrative. "Because of this, I think that whatever sympathy factor is created by grabbing the eco system... it works a little but not much," the Deputy CM added. He also said that if sympathy factor does such wonders for the Opposition, then why is the vote difference is just 0.3 per cent.
"If there is all this, why did they get 43.6 per cent and 43.9 per cent votes. Why the difference of only 0.3 per cent? This difference should be 4-5 per cent," he said. Sharpening his attack on the NCP (SP) chief, Fadnavis claimed that Sharad Pawar chose to take less seats to contest.
He added that Pawar is basically wanting fewer but selective seats. Moreover, Fadnavis said that the Mahayuti alliance comprising CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP would win the upcoming assembly polls in the state.
He said that issues that worried the people about the alliance. He also said that if Opposition assumes that the same points that worked for it in the Lok Sabha elections would work in the assembly polls as well, it would not be more mistaken.
"We saw a different pattern in 12 seats during the Lok Sabha elections. It won't happen during the Assembly polls. The Shiv Sena and the NCP were expected to win in certain seats, but, our opposition got advantage because of the fake narrative they spread. These factors won't work after the Lok Sabha elections," he explained.
Fadnavis further noted that the NCP found it challenging to secure votes during the general elections and this will not repeat during the elections.