Launching a frontal attack on his former colleagues who have quit the NCP to join the ruling BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday termed them "cowards" and said people will show them their place in the upcoming assembly elections. He also took a dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the eve of his scheduled visit to Sangli and Kolhapur, which were worst affected by unprecedented floods in early August.

"He (Fadnavis) went there (in the flood-affected areas) only once just for few hours and never visited again," Pawar said. The veteran politician also criticised his former colleagues who have joined the BJP fold. "They are cowards..People of Maharashtra will take care of such people in elections," he said, a day after former party leader Udayanraje Bhosale resigned as MP and joined the BJP.