Voters rejected arrogance: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the language used by him against the Opposition over the Agusta Westland helicopter issue actually downgraded the institution of the Prime Minister’s Office. He said that voters in the five states where elections were held rejected the arrogance of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Mr Pawar further said that he expected the Samajwadi Party  and Bahujan Samaj Party to join the United Progressive Alliance in the battle for democracy in 2019.

“I heard somewhere in the rally that the Prime Minister spoke on the Agusta  issue. He said that someone called Michel is here in India and that now, he will look after the Opposition leaders. See, the PM’s post is an institution. We should respect it. At the same time, the person holding the position should not do anything to damage the respect it holds. I think his remarks were not good in that manner,” said Mr Pawar while interacting with media in Mumbai on the occasion of his 79th birthday.

As results of the elections in the five states are out, Mr Pawar shared his observation with the media. “It is now clear that people will reject the Modi government in the next election. People don’t like arrogance. The way the RBI governor had to resign or the CBI director was sent on leave, people have not accepted this attempt to damage these institutions,” he said.

About Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, Mr Pawar said, “BJP leaders gav-e him names like anything. That was humiliation. People don’t like powerful persons humiliating someone. The arrogance of the BJP has been defeated in this election.”