Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday alleged that police vehicles are being used to provide financial assistance to candidates of the ruling parties in Maharashtra ahead of the assembly polls.
Addressing reporters at his residence, Govind Baug, the former union minister, said he wanted to speak more on the issue publicly but is refraining from doing so as this would hurt the officials who have shared the information with him.
Pawar's grandnephews and his party's candidates, Yugendra Pawar (Baramati) and Rohit Pawar (Karjat-Jamkhed), were also at the press conference.
The extended Pawar family meets at Govind Baug every year, but Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his family were missing this year.
"This has been a tradition for years. We assemble here. I would have been happy if this tradition continued. Members of my family come here a day before or on Diwali Padwa. Almost everyone was here. Ajit Dada would have been busy because of some work, but everyone was here. His two sisters and brother are already here," Pawar said.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is holding his Diwali Padwa congregation in Baramati.
The NCP (SP) chief said, "We have come to know from many districts, from officials that candidates of the ruling parties are getting financial assistance for the polls and that police vehicles are being used. Officials of the police department have also said that."
He said the peculiarity of the Eknath Shinde-led dispensation is that its leaders send A and B forms through aircraft.
He was referring to the A and B forms, which are mandatory for official candidates of any party, as reports emerged that Shinde sent the A and B forms using aircraft.
Asked if welfare schemes like the Laadki Bahin Yojana will help boost the ruling dispensation's prospects in the polls, Pawar said, "When we ask women whether they have received money, they reply in affirmative. When we ask if they are happy, they say we got the money, but the prices of kerosene and cooking oil have increased, and it has hurt our budget. Whatever is given is taken back using a different route. So these schemes have no logic, and it is deception."
He cited media reports and said as per the Union Finance Ministry, Maharashtra's financial ranking has fallen.
This reflects how serious the situation is, and there is no alternative but to change the government, he said.
"People should give power to those who can bring the state to its earlier position. The MVA can bring in a change," he said.
Pawar said the prime minister and his associates were ignoring the steps needed to strengthen the economy. Problems do not get solved simply by doing politics.
