Without naming Sharad Pawar, PM Modi hits out at NCP chief
NCP leader Sharad Pawar played politics in the name of farmers but did nothing to help them when he was Union agriculture minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged, without naming him. Incidentally, Pawar was Union agriculture minister for 10 years from 2004 to 2014.
Addressing a rally in Shirdi on Thursday, he said, “while we have been trying to make farmers independent, some people in Maharashtra only did politics in the name of farmers. There is a senior leader in Maharashtra who was Union agriculture minister for several years.
I personally respect him, but what has he done for farmers?”
“We have procured grain worth Rs 13.5 lakh crore under MSP, while in the 10 years (of UPA) it was only Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Oilseeds and pulses worth Rs 1.15 lakh thousand crore were procured after 2014 under MSP while only Rs 500-600 crore worth were procured earlier,” Modi claimed.
“When he was agriculture minister, the farmer had to depend on middlemen to get his dues.
Farmers never received payments for several months. Our government has, however, decided to pay MSP to farmers bank accounts.”
Referring to the Nilwande left bank dam project, the prime minister said the project was conceived in 1970 but could not be completed till now.
