A week after sharing stage with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and showering praises on him, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on
Sunday  attacked the NDA government over
the issue of issue of demonetisation and Rs 98,000-crore bullet train project.

Pawar alleged that the Modi government
was harassing people on the pretext of demonetisation. But people will respond
to it by voting against his party, he said at a rally in Ghatkopar in the
run-up to the crucial BMC elections due early next year.

“This government is not concerned
about millions of people commuting by local trains in Mumbai… Trains in
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai can be operated in Rs 98,000 crore.

But, Modi is in a hurry to go to Ahmedabad,”
the NCP leader said.

On the issue of demonetisation, Pawar said,
“If the situation continues, it will become difficult for the common man
to survive.”

“The common man is suffering and
the Prime Minister says those with black money have lost sleep. ‘Parivartan’
(change) must take place in the next Lok Sabha and the Assembly
elections,” Pawar said.

Citing official figures, Pawar said
only 0.28 per cent of the total notes in circulation were fake. However, 86 per
cent of the total notes in circulation were scrapped, he said.

He said Modi should travel abroad and
resolve India’s (global) issues, but he should travel as a representative of
the country and not of BJP.

Problems will increase if the
infrastructure is not improved. People of Mumbai should decide to oust those
troubling them, the NCP leader said.

“If the head of the country
(Prime Minister) is responsible for the feeling that this is a country of
criminals, then we must prove that India is a country of hard-working people,”
said the NCP supremo.

“The country is in the grip of an
economic emergency due to Modi’s (demonetisation) decision,” he added.

The former Union Minister described
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan
against demonetisation, as a “simple and honest” leader.

The Shiv Sena had recently supported
her over demonetisation.

On November 8, Modi had announced the
decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.