NCP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was sensitive towards farmers and had visited Amravati in Maharashtra after learning about suicide committed by some agriculturists, but now nobody is bothered about their issues.
He was addressing a gathering on the occasion of the culmination of Shetkari Aakrosh Morcha in Pune city.
The foot march set out from the foothills of Shivneri Fort in Pune district on Thursday was led by NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MP Amol Kolhe.
Several leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) including Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT), Balasaheb Thorat of Congress, and NCP leaders Kolhe and Supriya Sule were present.
"I remember that the then prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Amravati after some farmers had committed suicide. He was sensitive towards the people as well as farmers. Singh also waived farm loans worth Rs 72,000 crore at that time," said Pawar, who was agriculture minister in the erstwhile Manmohan Singh cabinet.
But now, nobody is even looking at the difficulties being faced by farmers, he added.
"This 'Shetkari Aakrosh Morcha' is not limited to Pune but it has reached the entire country," Pawar said.
Addressing the gathering, Raut said NCP MPs Supriya Sule and Amol Kolhe were suspended from Parliament for raising issues of farmers.
He took a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"The BJP can't win even Gram Panchayat elections without EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines). They are dependent on EVMs for victory. While we have allied with multiple regional parties in Maharashtra, BJP's partnership is with the EVM," Raut alleged.
In a dig at Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the NCP faction, Raut suggested that winds of change are blowing and he should be careful.
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