’Sharad Pawar has been active in state for long; Maharashtra should have progressed but nothing happened’: CM Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde hit out at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar in an interview with PTI news agency.

Shinde said former Maharashtra Chief Minister Pawar did "nothing" for the state during his long stints in the state and Centre.

"He has been in Maharashtra politics, national politics for such a long time. Maharashtra should have progressed so much during this time. He was also the agriculture minister. What our government has done for farmers, no other government has been able to do so far. That I can say with full confidence," Shinde said.

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Further, he exuded confidence that the ruling alliance in Maharashtra is way ahead of the opposition bloc in Lok Sabha elections in the state and his single-point agenda is to achieve 'Mission-45' to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi reach his 400-plus target in the Lok Sabha elections.

The opposition alliance now mainly comprises Sena's Uddhav Thackeray faction, Sharad Pawar faction of NCP, and the Congress.

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In the 2019 elections, the BJP got 23 seats, the then Shiv Sena got 18 and NCP got four seats. Of these, five Shiv Sena MPs are now with the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, while the Shinde-led Sena is now in 'Mahayuti' ruling alliance with BJP, and so is Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

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Shinde said the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 10 years is for everyone to see and these include schemes for women and youth, infrastructure projects, and road, rail, air, and water connectivity.

"Today, India is talked about with respect in the entire world. That change has taken place. Today, India speaks and the world listens. It was not the case earlier. It's no more a majboor sarkar, it's a majboot sarkar. That's why we could avenge Pulwama with a Balakote surgical strike. "It's the prowess of our country that the opposition is not liking. They are not able to digest it," he said.

Maharashtra is going to polls in five phases to elect 48 members of Parliament from the state. So far 285 parliamentary constituencies have cast votes. The 4th phase of election will take place on May 13 in 96 constituencies. The result will be announced on June 4.