Cong’s ‘Selfish’ Interests Stifled Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar’s PM Aspirations: Modi at Cluster Meet – News18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held another round of cluster meetings in the national capital. This time, the meetings were held with NDA MPs from Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Continuing his attack on the Opposition, particularly the Congress, the Prime Minister highlighted that the grand old party was driven solely by the selfish interests of the Gandhi family. He stated, “In their pursuit of selfish interests, they killed the aspirations of numerous big leaders who were Prime Minister material. Highly competent individuals such as Pranab Mukherjee and Sharad Pawar never had the opportunity to become prime ministers.

The Prime Minister also reminisced about his interactions with former president Pranab Mukherjee who had told him that he would be different from others.

While the focus remained on the attack on dynasty politics, the Prime Minister urged his colleagues to embrace the spirit of the Quit India movement by striving to free the nation from corruption, appeasement and dynasty politics.

Stating his personal example, modi said that despite being in power, he was never scared to take tough decisions against those who are involved in wrong doing. “On multiple occasions, such people have been stripped of the responsibility or have also been denied tickets,” a source said PM told the MPs.

Shifting his focus to Congress-ruled Rajasthan, which is scheduled for polls later this year, PM Modi stated that the BJP must secure a victory in the state due to its current state of absolute disarray.

In both these meetings, the Prime Minister asked the party leaders to stay together as a unit, especially in Maharashtra where there is a three-party alliance, including NCP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and BJP.

Without explicitly naming any specific party in the context of Maharashtra, the Prime Minister hinted that the BJP did not withdraw or walk out of any alliance. Sources suggest that the reference was directed towards Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, which alleged that the BJP had backstabbed them.

The Prime Minister asked NDA party leaders to stay connected with the people on the ground and promote central government schemes.

PM Modi also reiterated the significance of the NDA alliance over the last 25 years. This alliance has stood the test of time since the era of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, even during extended periods of being in the Opposition.

This is the ninth meeting of regions-wise clusters held in the last couple of weeks. The NDA has divided itself into 11 clusters, with the PM being present in all the meetings. On Wednesday, the PM will meet MPs from poll bound states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.