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Unite to unseat Sena-BJP government, Pawar tells partymen

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha and former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar has exhorted Congress workers to create awareness in people about the failure of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government on all fronts.

He said rising inflation, deteriorating law and order marked by extortion rackets, dacaities, murders, and corruption in Krishna Valley Development Project and orphanages are instances of the government's failure.

Pawar was speaking at the annual general body meeting of the Pune Congress on July 12. He recalled that the Congress performed well in Lok Sabha and assembly elections when there was internal unity. He lambasted the alliance government for destroying the ideals enunciated by former Congress stalwarts like Yashwantrao Chavan and Vasantdada Patil.

Saying the government coffers were empty, Pawar said the state government has borrowed Rs 3 billion to repay an earlier loan contracted at 17.5 per cent. It also cut off almost 80 per cent of government aid to nomadic orphanages and ashrams, much to the detriment of the backward people who cannot afford formal education.

All these factors should be highlighted because assembly elections are barely 18 months away. Unity among Congressmen is therefore essential, he said.

While the Bill for 33 per cent reservation in legislatures for women needs to be supported, a similar award for backward classes should be considered later, he said. If the Bill comes into force, six Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra will be reserved for women, he added.

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