Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday took a swipe at BJP saying that the party, which was until recently predicting to retain power in Uttar Pradesh, is witnessing a mass exodus of key ministers and legislators in the run up to the assembly elections. Pawar, who has already announced that NCP will fight the UP elections in an alliance with Samajwadi Party, further targeted BJP saying not one day passes by when a minister does not quit the BJP in UP.
"Not a single day goes when a BJP leader does not leave the party. Among those leaving the party are ministers and legislators. Take UP, for example, 13 MLAs are leaving BJP to join another party. I have come to know that 4 BJP MLAs are leaving it today itself," Pawar said. He added that those in the council of ministers are leaving the BJP and it is happening in districts there.
Pawar predicted that ministers and legislators from BJP in Goa will desert the party. This process has started.
Pawar, who welcomed state BJP leader and former union minister Gopinath Munde’s close confidant Vijay Gavhane in the NCP, said one can see the same picture in the poll-bound states.
"The process has begun," he said and added that BJP may face a setback in the assembly election.
Pawar also claimed that the BJP has a different ideology with not having in its mind the interest of the common man. ‘’There are ups and downs in politics. These fluctuations sometimes take a person to a higher ground,’’ he said.
"But, once the common man decides, then no matter how powerful a person is at the top, he cannot stand up in front of the united force of the common people," he noted.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday called Pawar and invited him to campaign for the candidates of Samajwadi Party and allies in Uttar Pradesh.
