NASHIK: Home minister Amit Shah questioned the worth of NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar‘s decade-long stint as Union agriculture minister on Friday, reviving a battle of barbs that flared up this month with the latter branding the BJP bigwig “tadipaar” in reference to his externment from Gujarat for two years .
“Only being a neta is not enough, Pawar saheb. One has to work hard on the ground. There has always been a demand for govt support to the cooperative sector, but nobody gave thought to it before PM Narendra Modi,” Shah said at a rally in Malegaon. “I want to ask Sharad Pawar ji from this platform: What did you do for the cooperative movement of Maharashtra when you were the Union agriculture minister for 10 long years? Citizens of Maharashtra want to know what you did for primary agriculture credit societies, sugar mills cooperatives and farmers?” Shah, who also holds the cooperation portfolio, said it took the BJP-headed govt to fulfil the long-standing demand for a separate ministry to harness the cooperative sector‘s potential to transform farmers’ lives. “PM Modi promoted ethanol blending for cooperative sugar mills, resolved the issues they were facing regarding income tax dues of Rs 15,000 crore in Maharashtra and also reduced tax on mills, all of which indirectly helped farmers.”
Deputy CM Eknath Shinde said Modi’s “Sahakar Se Samriddhi” pronouncement was a revolutionary slogan. “Farmers should focus on supplementary industries with agriculture and seek help from schemes under the cooperation sector.”
