NCP chief Sharad Pawar slams BJP for trying to 'spread bitterness' in society; says maintaining harmony a challenge

In a veiled attack on the BJP NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday alleged that attempts were being made to spread bitterness in the society and therefore taking the country forward and maintaining harmony has become a challengePolitics used to connect people in the past but now efforts were being made in the country to divide them on the basis of religion he said adding that the countrys leadership was trying to defame national icons like Mahatma GandhiPawar was addressing a gathering at Sangli around 230 kms from here where he welcomed local leader Shivajirao Naik back into the NCP fold after the latter quit the BJPShivajirao was successful as the Zilla Parishad presidentI welcome him back to NCP Lets work together to use his expertise for the betterment of Maharashtra he saidSatara or for that matter Maharashtra had leadership who worked for the development or to bring people together But today efforts are being made in the country to divide people on basis of religion Pawar saidMahatma Gandhi Maulana Abul Kalam Azad fought for the countrys freedom and worked to build it But presently the countrys leadership is trying to defame these people the former Union minister allegedThe country is currently being led by a party which has a different thought process Politics previously connected people but now attempts are being made at the country to divide people on religious lines he saidRecently in BJPruled Karnataka a fatwa was issued by some organisations where people were asked not to buy anything from the shops run by members from a minority community This type of bitterness is being spread by those elements who are in power in states How will this country go ahead and how will we maintain harmony is a question Pawar saidToday we want to fight against this bigotry We have to do politics of development of better future for workers and farmers I am confident that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Deputy CM Ajit Pawar NCP minister Jayant Patil and others will change this picture together he saidMeanwhile he also said that along with the production of sugar people should focus on producing ethanolWe cannot just go for sugar production We should opt for ethanol production It is a good decision to have a distillery in some sugar factoriesProduction of ethanol will help us to save money and farmers and distillers will be able to earn through it PM also announce the incentive policies to support ethanol productionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever