Sharad Pawar takes a dig on BJP and PM Modi's assassination plot, calling it a plot to get 'sympathy'

Hitting out at BJP and PM Narendra Modi over Pune Police's claim of alleged planning and plotting Rajiv Gandhi type assassination of PM Modi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said that the threat letter, that Pune cops seized, “did not have any substance” and was merely being used to “garner people’s sympathy”.

“They (Pune Police) say there was a threatening letter. I spoke to a retired police officer who had worked for the CID. He said there is no substance in the letter. The letter is being used to garner people’s sympathy,” Pawar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Pawar said the BJP had resorted to such tactics after losing the support of people. Pawar made the statement during his address at a Halla Bol rally against the BJP in Pune. Opposing the arrest of five persons for having alleged Maoist links, Pawar said, “When like-minded people came together to organise Elgar Parishad, they were called Naxals and arrested. Everyone knows who executed Bhima Koregaon Violence but those who have no link with it were arrested. This is the misuse of power.”

Earlier on Thursday, The Pune police claimed to have seized an email, from one of the five accused arrested, which hinted at plots to assassinate Modi in “another Rajiv Gandhi-type incident” by “targeting his roadshows”.

“But I am sure the people will not fall prey to such tactics,” Pawar said. “I have spoken to a senior retired police officer in the Crime Investigation Department who told me that when such letters come, they do not go to the media but to the security agencies, and adequate security measures are taken.”