Maharashtra Election 2019: "Will You Run Government Or Cook?" Sharad Pawar On Cheap Meal Promise

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday mocked the Shiv Sena over its promise of providing meals for Rs 10, saying the party's similar scheme had failed in the 1990s.

At a campaign rally at Barshi in Solapur district, Mr Pawar reminded that in the 1990s, the first Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government had started centres to sell zunka-bhakar, a rural staple, at subsidized price.

Nobody ever realised when these centres folded up and Sena workers "grabbed" the space provided to them, he said.

"And now this Rs 10 meal scheme. Are people asking you to run the state or to cook meals?" Mr Pawar said.

He also referred to the statements by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray that the opposition was not putting up any fight in this election.

"If there is no strong opponent in these polls, why there is a need for nine rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, twenty rallies of home minister Amit Shah?" Mr Pawar asked.

"They will find out on October 24 when 'gulal' (of victory) will be applied to our candidate," Mr Pawar added.

Mr Pawar also attacked Amit Shah over the scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

"From morning to night, he talks about Article 370. You abrogated it, we are happy, we support it. But there is also Article 371 about north-eastern states (which, like 370, makes special provisions for those states). Why don't you remove Article 371?" Mr Pawar said.