Shiv Sena slams Sharad Pawar's 'coward' remark, says he too left Cong

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday slammed the NCP chief Sharad Pawar over his remark on those quitting his party. In Saamana Editorial, Shivsena said that Sharad Pawar shouldn't talk about self-respect as he himself had left Congress earlier. Pawar founded the NCP in 1999 after walking out of the Congress.  The Sena editorial was targeting Pawar's statement in which he said that those joining BJP and Shiv Sena are 'cowards'. He said he worked in opposition for 27 years.

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NCP chief Sharad Pawar earlier termed those who left his party to join the ruling BJP as "cowards", and said people will show the deserters their place in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. In a setback for the NCP, several senior party leaders recently joined the BJP and the Shiv Sena. "They are cowards...People of Maharashtra will take care of such people in the elections," Pawar said on Sunday, a day after senior leader Udayanraje Bhosale quit the NCP and his Lok Sabha membership from Satara and joined the BJP. "There are some people who have lost their self- respect and switched over to the BJP. I think people will show them their place in the Assembly polls," he added.

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Sharad Pawar on Pakistan

In a veiled attack on the BJP, Sharad Pawar said that people are spreading false information to gain political mileage, he further spoke about the hospitality he received in Pakistan."I have visited Pakistan and received their hospitality. Pakistanis have relatives in India and they want to meet them and vice versa. But there are visa issues. People here say that those in Pakistan are facing injustice and are unhappy ....these things are being said only for political gains without understanding the actual situation in Pakistan. Those in power here are spreading false things for political benefits," he said.

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Sharad Pawar said that nobody can test the loyalty of a citizen, based on his social or cultural status. "Some powers are trying to spread an ideology that you can survive in this country only if you follow a particular faith... For you to be an Indian, you don't have to prove all of this... Some people have an issue saying certain things and targeting minorities... A section of the majority is trying to create an imbalance by influencing and prioritising a certain section of the society," Sharad Pawar said. 

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