NCP's Ajit Pawar lauds PM Modi's 'magic'; 'Under his leadership BJP won many elections'

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Ajit Pawar on Saturday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "magic" and said that under the latter's leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 and 2019. He said that a lot of remarks were made against PM Modi after his 2014 victory, but he got popular and the saffron party won several states.

Addressing the media, the NCP leader said, "Under PM Modi’s name the party, which had only two MPs earlier, came to power in 2014 and reached several remote places. After winning (in 2014), a lot of statements were made against him but he got popular and under his leadership, BJP won in various states and repeated the same in 2019. If this is not the magic of PM Modi then what is?"

"So what is the use of taking out all these issues after nine years? What is important is that people see his work. As far as education is concerned it’s not considered very important in politics. In Maharashtra, former Chief Ministers like Vasantdada Patil were not very educated but their administration skills were the best. No one forgets this till this date and in fact, during Patil’s regime, many educational institutions and colleges were opened," he added. 

Notably, Ajit's remark was in reference to the row over PM Modi's educational degree. 

'Not possible to manipulate EVMs': Ajit Pawar

Apart from praising the PM, the NCP leader backed the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and said that he has "full trust" in it, adding that the voting machine cannot be manipulated. 

"I have full trust in EVM personally. If EVMs were faulty, then we would not have governments of opposition parties in states like Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. It is not possible to manipulate EVMs in our country. It is a big system altogether, lots of checks and balances are involved," the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra said.

"Sometimes some people lose elections but they think that they can't lose it, then they start putting allegations about EVMs but in reality, it is the actual mandate of the people," Ajit added.

The political leader also spoke about the Congress-led attack on businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, saying, "Nowadays, the names of Ambani-Adani are being taken (to criticise the government) but we need to think about their contribution to the country."

Notably, Ajit Pawar's remarks praising the Prime Minister and on the EVM are in contrast to his ally Congress. Earlier, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had backed Gautam Adani over the Hindenburg row, saying that the Adani Group was "targeted" and there is no need for a JPC rpobe. It is pertinent to mention that the Congress-led Opposition has been raising the demand for a JPC probe in the matter.

(With inputs from agencies)