Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Modi targets Sharad Pawar on his work as Union agriculture minister; says it is now time to punish him

'There is a ‘bhatakti atma’ (wandering soul) in Maharashtra. If it does not manage success it spoils others’ good work. Maharashtra has been a victim of it,' Modi said at a rally on Monday, hitting out at Sharad Pawar without taking his name.

Malshiras, Maharashtra: A day after terming Sharad Pawar as a wandering soul, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday continued his attack on the NCP (SP) leader, saying he did not do much for farmers while being the Union agriculture minister, and added that it was now time to punish him.

He taunted the opposition Congress, saying it was not able to field even 275 candidates in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, and appealed to people not to waste their vote by supporting the grand old party.

Modi was addressing a rally at Malshiras in Solapur district to drum up support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar contesting from the Madha Lok Sabha constituency in the district.

Targeting Pawar without mentioning his name, Modi said, "Fifteen years ago, a stalwart leader had come to contest an election here. It is being said that he took an oath before a setting sun that he will bring water to the drought-affected region here. Was he able to bring water here? Do you remember? So time has come to punish him. Since then, the leader could not muster the courage to contest the election from here."

Be it in Vidarbha or Marathwada, the sin of depriving people from water has been happening for years now, he alleged. The Congress got an opportunity to rule the country for 60 years. While other countries in the world transformed themselves in those 60 years, the Congress failed to even bring water to farms, Modi said.

"Till 2014, there were approximately 100 such irrigation projects in the country that remained stalled for years. Of these, 35 projects were from Maharashtra alone...See the kind of betrayal these people have done with Maharashtra," he said.

The PM added that it was his life's mission to provide water to every household and farm. "After coming to power in 2014, I put all my might into completing the stalled irrigation projects. Today, of these 100 projects, 66 projects have been completed," he said.

"These people from the alliance talk big things about farmers, but before 2014 when they were in power, what was the situation? It is my duty to remind the farmers about that situation. I have come here not to criticise anyone, but to apprise the farmers and people of the reality," he said.

Attacking Pawar, he said when he was the agriculture minister in the "remote control government", the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane was Rs 200, but now under "Modi's sevakal", it is Rs 340 per quintal.

"When this stalwart leader was the agriculture minister in Delhi, the sugarcane farmers used to run from pillar to post for their arrears. Today, the situation has changed as 100 per cent arrear payment is happening," he said.

In 2014, the amount of sugarcane arrears paid to farmers was Rs 57,000 crore, but this year, Rs 1,14,000 crore were paid as arrears to them, he said. Sugar mills in the country were annoyed due to the income tax, he said.

"When the stalwart leader was in Delhi as agriculture minister, I used to explain to him again and again but he did not resolve the issue of income tax. When we came to power, we provided a solution and gave a respite of Rs 10,000 crore to the cooperative sugar mills by waiving the income tax," the PM said.

Modi said during Pawar's tenure as the agriculture minister, the government procured agricultural produce worth only Rs 7.5 lakh crore from the farmers. But in the last 10 years, produce worth Rs 20 lakh crore has been purchased from farmers.

Addressing a rally in Pune on Monday, PM Modi had attacked Pawar saying, "There is a 'bhatakti atma' (wandering soul) in Maharashtra. If it does not manage success it spoils others' good work.

Maharashtra has been a victim of it." "This game was started by the same leader 45 years ago. It was just for his own ambition that Maharashtra has always been an unstable state. As a result, several chief ministers could not complete their full term," the PM had said.

At Malshiras, Modi said Maharashtra is a hub of the cooperative sector, and added that he was committed to increasing the scope of the cooperative sector. "That is why, after coming to power in 2019, we created a separate Union cooperative ministry for the sector," he said.

He praised the farmer producer organisations (FPOs) for their work in the state. "During the previous governments, the funds provided by the Centre used to be looted by the palm of Congress. But under my government, the money released from Delhi is going into the accounts of farmers," he said. Modi mocked Congress for not even being able to field enough candidates in the current elections.

"There was a time, those (Congress) having 400 MPs, today that party is not able to field 250-275 candidates. If one has to form a government, there has to be 272 seats, but they are not contesting that many seats.

If they are not contesting that many seats, will they win the majority, so why waste your vote for a party who is not even contesting the election to form the government," said Modi, appealing to the people to vote to strengthen the government.