In a blistering attack on NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the time has come to punish the “tall Maharashtra leader” for not keeping his promise to take water to the drought-affected Madha region of the state.

Addressing an election meeting of the BJP at Madha, the prime minister recalled that the Maharashtra leader had made a promise 15 years ago, and Madha, along with Vidarbha and Marathwada regions continue to suffer water scarcity. Without naming Pawar, Mr Modi said the Maharashtra leader didn’t dare come to Madha to contest the election again.

He said the entire world changed, but the Congress, even after 60 years of its rule, could not provide water for irrigation. When he took over as prime minister in 2014, there were 100 pending irrigation projects, including 26 in Maharashtra. The state was cheated in a big way, he said.

Mr Modi said providing water to every home and farm was a big mission of his life. After taking over as PM, he devoted his whole energy to the pending schemes and 63 of them have been completed.

To mark the 75 years of Independence, his government could have undertaken any project to celebrate it. The government, however, initiated a programme of Amrit Sarovar ponds, one each in every district of the country. These ponds would serve village communities for generations.

The prime minister said the “tall” Maharashtra leader was agriculture minister in the Union government but made no efforts to ensure Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) to sugarcane farmers. “During his tenure as the agriculture minister no efforts were made to increase the FRP which was at that time Rs 200 per quintal, while the NDA Government increased it to about Rs 350 per quintal,” he added.

When Mr Pawar was agriculture minister, the prime minister said farmers used to run to cane commissioners’ offices for payment of arrears. The situation is different today. Now, there are no arrears, he said.

In 2014, the NDA government paid Rs 57,000 crore as arrears and this year, Rs 1.14 lakh crore have been paid to clear arrears, including Rs 32,000 crore received by sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra.

Mr Modi said the sugarcane mills were worried about income tax since the Nineties. “We requested him for waiving of income tax for sugar mills, I was Chief Minister and wrote to him but he failed to do anything,” he added.

When Modi took over as PM in 2014, he settled the income tax demand of the mills. His government provided Rs 10,000 crore relief to cooperative sugar mills. From March 2023, a loan of Rs 10,000 crore was also provided to the sugar mills so that farmers did not have to wait for any payments.

When the “tall” Maharashtra leader was in the Union government, the government made procurements from farmers worth Rs 7.50 lakh crores in 10 years. In comparison, his government in its 10 years made procurements worth Rs 20 lakh crore, the prime minister said.

He said the BJP was receiving support from people for its achievements, but Congress “prince” (Rahul Gandhi) is talking of an x-ray machine to raid the homes of people to assess how much money, jewellery is kept in the house, and then it will be distributed among party favourites.

The Congress is even talking of an inheritance tax, Mr Modi said. People make savings for their children, keeping their consumption need-based. Congress says the government too will have a claim on the savings, and grab more than 50 per cent as tax. The Congress government can take five acres out of 10 acres.

“Will you accept such a government? A government that can loot your hard savings? This is dangerous. This is Maoist, Naxalite thinking. None of these people should get elected and reach Delhi. You should be careful about the Congress and its allies,” he said.

Attacking the Congress party for failure to put up a “sufficient” number of candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, the prime minister said people should vote to enable the formation of a strong government.

“A party, which once had 400 MPs, is not able to put up even 250 to 275 candidates. You need 273 MPs to form a government. They are not contesting this number of seats. How will they form a government, or win? When they are not contesting to form a government, why should you waste your vote on them? That is why I request you to vote for the BJP candidates; your vote will really go to Modi,” he said.

Mr Modi said everybody is happy with the construction of the Ram temple, the project which should have been taken up just after Independence. The Congress had an opportunity but was busy putting hurdles in the way of the project because of its vote bank and appeasement politics. “Modi took the step for the temple’s construction. They said there could be a fire in the country. Has any such thing happened in the country? Your one vote gave the strength for it,” he said.