PM Modi says won't speak against Shiv Sena as mark of respect for Bal Thackeray

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that he will not speak against the Shiv Sena as a mark of respect for its founder Bal Thackeray.

"This is the first election after Balasaheb Thackeray's death. I have decided that in his absence, I won't speak against the Shiv Sena as a mark of respect," Prime Minister Modi said at an election rally in Sangli.

Asserting that he has a special connection with this land, Prime Minister Modi thanked the people for electing the BJP from this seat in the Lok Sabha polls.

"I came here earlier during the Lok Sabha elections to request you to make the BJP win. We had not been able to win the Sangli seat after independence. Trusting me, you have made our party emerge victorious from this seat. I thank you for that," he added.

Prime Minister Modi also used the occasion to take potshots at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar.

"Pawar was the Chief Minister, what did he do for the people of Sangli? Sharad Pawar doesn't have the character to imbibe Chhatrapati Shivaji's qualities," he said.

Prime Minister Modi further alleged that Pawar as the country's Agriculture Minister did not do anything for the farmers of the region.

"Every year 3,700 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Have you seen the Congress-NCP leaders shedding a tear for them?" he asked.

Urging the people to vote for the BJP, Prime Minister Modi also lashed out at the Congress-NCP combine that has governed the state for the last fifteen years.

"These people have robbed the houses of the widows of Kargil martyrs, the jobs of youths, happiness of the poor and aspirations of the people of Maharashtra," he said.

Maharashtra will go to polls on October 15 along with Haryana while the counting in both states will be held on October 19.