Farmers, common people unhappy with govt, BJP will have to pay price: Sharad Pawar

NCP SP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said farmers and common people were not happy under the BJP-led central government due to its policies and unemployment, as a result of which the saffron party will have to pay a price.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said farmers and common people were not happy under the BJP-led central government due to its policies and unemployment, as a result of which the saffron party will have to pay a price. Addressing a press conference in Maharashtra's Nashik, he also said that people in the state appear more inclined towards the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. ''Farmers are unhappy with the present rulers. There is unhappiness among onion farmers in Nashik, Dhule, Pune and Satara. Farmers are unhappy over the sugarcane and ethanol policy of the Centre. They are unhappy over the prices of other agricultural produce. People are also unhappy due to unemployment. The ruling party will have to pay a price for it,'' he said. ''The rising prices of various daily use items, arbitrary policies related to onion, ethanol and sugar industry have upset the farming community in the state. The government will have to pay a heavy price for it in the upcoming parliamentary elections,'' the former Union agriculture minister said. The central government does not have anything to show to people in terms of its performance. Hence, it is misusing agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to launch an attack on the opposition parties, he said. ''ED is being used against the (BJP's) opponents only. Though charges are made against people by ED, the conviction rate is very low. The Modi government came to power at the Centre in 2014. Since then, the ED conducted an inquiry against 121 people. Of them, 115 are from the opposition parties. Not a single leader of the BJP is amongst them,'' Pawar alleged. ''Corruption charges were earlier levelled against leaders like Hasan Mushrif, Pratap Sarnaik, Yamini Jadhav, but no action was taken against them after they joined the ruling side. The ED took action against people during the UPA rule also, but only three of them were BJP leaders. We did not misuse power,'' he added.

The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief is scheduled to participate in Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Thursday. The yatra reached Malegaon in Nashik district from Dhule on Wednesday. On the MVA's seat-sharing talks for Lok Sabha elections, Pawar said, ''The election schedule will probably be announced in the next 3-4 days. The MVA allies are facing the elections together. We have decided who will contest which seats and a decision on 3-4 seats is pending. It has been decided to give some seats to Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). If he joins us, we will contest the elections together.'' He said the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest the Nashik Lok Sabha seat, while the NCP (SP) will fight the Dindori seat, Pawar said.

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