Stressing that that she had come to strengthen the BJP in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Pune district, Union Finance Minister and senior party leader Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday clarified that the purpose of her three-day visit to Baramati, considered the bastion of the Pawar clan, was not to talk about any one family.
Ms. Sitharaman’s Baramati tour is a part of the BJP’s Pravas marketing campaign to shore up its base in 144 Lok Sabha constituencies throughout the nation (the place the saffron get together is weak) forward of the 2024 common election.
Sixteen of the 144 LS constituencies are in Maharashtra of which Baramati, hitherto the impregnable bastion of the Pawar clan and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is a main goal for the BJP.
When questioned by reporters in regards to the BJP’s technique to focus on Baramati so as to finish the supremacy of the Pawar household there, an irritable Ms. Sitharaman shot again: “I have come here to strengthen the BJP in the constituency not for any one family…What is this Lok Sabha target you [the media] people keep saying. I urge the media not to keep repeating this. Do not impose your [the media’s] opinion on me.”
At the identical time, Ms. Sitharaman mentioned that if native BJP leaders thought that her go to would lead the BJP to victory in Baramati (which the BJP haven’t gained in any main election), then they had been entitled to their opinion
“If my partymen are saying this, then it is their opinion. I am not going to keep arguing with them on this. The BJP will be trying to enhance its base in every constituency,” she mentioned.
BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule had mentioned that his get together was assured of giving the NCP a stiff battle and wrest Baramati from the Pawar household within the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
‘Trying to control inflation’
When questioned about spiralling inflation, the Finance Minister mentioned she had been speaking on the subject and answering often on the problem in Parliament.
“We are doing everything to keep it in control. See what is going on all over the world. Inflation in the United States has reached the highest in 40 years. Inflation in Germany is 30%. We are much better off in comparison,” she mentioned.
While each NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, had ‘welcomed’ Ms. Sitharaman to their constituency, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had no such qualms about such courtesies.
Earlier, AAP employees brandished black flags on the convoy of the Union Finance Minister to protest towards rising inflation and Goods and Services Tax-related points.
Three AAP employees had been detained throughout the protest in Pune’s Warje space, the police mentioned.
Source: www.thehindu.com