Pawar's era of 'make-and-break' politics is over: CM

Mumbai: Launching a stinging attack on Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the "breaking and making parties" kind of politics practiced by the NCP chief is now catching up with his party with the passage of time.

Against the backdrop of a string of defections from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis said Opposition leadership has failed to instill confidence among their leaders.

"Opposition leaders are switching to the BJP because they have realised that the country's future is bright under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said at the 'India Today Conclave 2019' event here.

Maharashtra will face single-phase elections for all 288 seats on October 21. Counting of votes will be done on October 24.

As elections draw closer, top leadership of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, has amplified their attack on Pawar.

In a rally in Nashik on Thursday, Modi slammed Pawar over his statement on Pakistani people.

Earlier, Fadnavis had targetted Pawar on the same issue and said the statement was made with an eye on a particular vote bank.

Asked about Pawar's allegations the BJP-led government was issuing notices to sugar barons and pressurising them into joining the ruling camp, Fadnavis said, "Pawar Sahab used to do this and hence he thinks we also will do so. But there is a big difference between theirs and our brand of politics. We need not play the kind of politics Pawar Sahab played".

He added that Pawar once "made and broke parties".

"It was the charisma of time now that the same thing is happening to his party, the NCP, today. You need not cry foul now. The kind of politics you played, it will resonate and echo somewhere," the chief minister said.

With a string of desertions, the NCP, which was formed in 1999 by Pawar after walking out of the Congress, is facing its worst crisis in the state which it had ruled in allinace with the Congress for three consecutive terms since 2014.

The CM said the BJP has inducted leaders/MLAs into his party party fold only after a background check.

Leaders from NCP and Congress including Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Udayanraje Bhosale, Ganesh Naik, Harshvardhan Patil, Shivendrasinh Bhosale, Kalidas Kolambkar, Vaibhav Pichad to name a few, have joined the BJP recently.

When asked if he was the "Sharad Pawar of the 21st Century", Fadnavis said he will rather play his own kind of politics.

"The era of Sharad Pawar ji's politics is over. The kind of politics he would play of making and breaking (of parties and MLAs) is over now. Such politics won't work, generations have changed. People don't accept such politics now," Fadnavis said.

The chief minister said leaders today identify themselves with the kind of politics being played by the BJP.

"My government never faced any corruption charges unlike previous dispensations led by the Congress and the NCP," he said, adding that allegations made against some members of the state Cabinet could not be proved.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis said he would renounce politics if the allegation against him of transferring bank accounts of state police personnel to a private bank, where his wife holds a senior post, are proved.

"The transfer of accounts happened in 2005 when the Congress-NCP combine was in power. I got married to Amruta in November 2005. I challenge any leader to prove charges against me...I will renounce politics if the charges are proved. If not, they should quit politics," he added.