Anti-BJP Front Leader Not Issue, Need To Give People Option: Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar said government should bring a policy under which shopkeepers whose establishments are targeted in incidents of violence can be compensated

NCP chief Sharad Pawar today said there was no issue of who will lead the possible anti-BJP alliance in the next general elections, and added that there is a need to give a political option to people as desired by them.

Describing the recent violence in Amravati and some other places in Maharashtra as very unfortunate, he said the government should frame a policy wherein the shopkeepers and traders, who become targets of such incidents, can be compensated.

He also said that "injustice" was done to former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh, who is currently in jail under judicial custody after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.

Mr Pawar was speaking after meeting the representatives of the Nagpur Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC), who raised concerns over the recent violence in parts of Maharashtra, and said innocent shopkeepers and traders become victims of violence and suffer losses despite no fault of theirs.