No one can divide land of Shivaji: PM

No one can divide land of Shivaji: PM
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PM Narendra Modi declared that \"no one can break Maharashtra\" while he\'s in power, responding to allegations by former ally Shiv Sena as well as the Congress that he wants to separate Mumbai from the state.

Dhule: PM Narendra Modi declared that "no one can break Maharashtra" while he's in power, responding to allegations by former ally Shiv Sena as well as the Congress that he wants to separate Mumbai from the state.

"Congress leaders have been spreading lies on cotton and onion for the last 10 years. They have started spreading a new lie. They say Maharashtra will be split. Has anyone been born in this country who can divide the land of Shivaji? I assure you that as long as I am in Delhi, no power in the world can split Maharashtra or separate Mumbai from Maharashtra," PM Modi said at a rally in Dhule. At another rally in Jalgaon soon after, he underscored, "People who could not work for Maharashtra are indulging in false propaganda. They are saying Modi wants to take Mumbai away from Maharashtra. There is no one in India who can take Mumbai away from Maharashtra."

He made no reference to the Sena or its chief Uddhav Thackeray, who had said on Monday, "Modi is talking of developing the state, but on the pretext of development they actually want to break Maharashtra into pieces, but the people of the state would not tolerate such attempts."

Raj Thackeray, the chief of the MNS, made a similar allegation as he told a newspaper, "Can you imagine a Prime Minister holding 23 rallies for the Maharashtra assembly polls? Why is he so focused on Maharashtra? There is a larger design behind this campaign. It is aimed at controlling the financial capital of India."

"Leaving his work in Delhi, PM Modi is busy addressing rallies in Maharashtra," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna, adding, "If Modi had mass appeal as projected by the BJP, instead of 25-30 campaigns in Maharashtra, he would have sat in Delhi and appealed for votes and people would have definitely listened to him."

NCP chief Sharad Pawar accused the Modi-led government in the Centre of betraying the farmers by banning the export of sugar and revoking the subsidy for sugarcane-growers.

Pawar said, "BJP, during the campaign for Lok Sabha elections, promised good days ahead. People voted for BJP and Modi had become the PM. But in the last three months, the Modi government has stabbed the farmers in the back by stopping the export of sugar and revoking the subsidy to the cane growers."

Meanwhile, nine years after breaking away from the Sena, Raj fumbled over his own party symbol and urged people to vote for "the bow and arrow" - the Sena's symbol - before correcting himself.

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