Sharad Pawar should reconsider attending event with PM Modi: Arvind Sawant

Shiv Sena (UT) MP Arvind Sawant on Monday said NCP leader Sharad Pawar should reconsider his decision to attend an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award.

Pawar is scheduled to attend the event organised by the Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in Pune as the chief guest on August 1 where he will share the stage with Prime Minister Modi.

Leaders of different parties from the opposition bloc INDIA have raised the issue saying it will be bad optics for the alliance. Some leaders have also questioned Pawar's decision to attend the event especially after his nephew Ajit Pawar had revolted against him and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra.

Sawant said that Tilak had given the slogan 'Swaraj is my birthright'. But "is there Swaraj today? In today's situation he (Pawar) should think... It is 'swa- rajya' instead - the rule of one person," he said and added that Pawar should reconsider his decision.

"Leaders of their party (BJP) are destroying the Constitution of India, he (Pawar) should not go there," he said.

The award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983 to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak, according to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

The award is given to people who have worked for the progress and development of the nation and whose contribution can only be looked upon as remarkable and extraordinary, the statement said.

It is presented every year on August 1, the death anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak, the statement said.

NCP leader Sharad Pawar has been invited as chief guest for the event, organisers earlier said.

Rohit Tilak, vice president of the Trust, confirmed on Monday that Pawar will attend the award ceremony.

“There is no change in the programme. Pawar Saheb, who is the chief guest, will be attending the event. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, and Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is also a trustee, will also be attending the event,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress' youth wing in Pune has put up posters with the message "Go Back Modi" in some parts of the city as a mark of protest against the unrest in Manipur.

Members of the opposition bloc INDIA are also planning a protest against PM Modi's visit on Tuesday. The opposition alliance members in a release said the prime minister has time to go to foreign countries, but not to Manipur which has been witnessing ethnic classes since early May.