Solapur: NCP chief Sharad Pawar mocked the Shiv Sena on Saturday for its poll promise to provide a meal at Rs 10, reminding that it had, in the past, introduced 'zunka-bhakar' centres which later vanished. Ahead of the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Sena has promised to provide a full meal to the poor at Rs 10.

At a campaign rally at Barshi in Solapur district, Pawar reminded that in the 1990s, the first Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government had started centres to sell zunka-bhakar, a rural staple, at subsidised price. Nobody ever realised when these centres folded up and Sena workers 'grabbed' the space provided for them, he said.