Pune, Aug 4 (IANS): Adopting an aggressive stance, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on Friday called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prove his multiple allegations against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar or tender an apology.

VBA President Prakash Ambedkar had said that at a BJP booth workers’ meeting in Bhopal last month, the Prime Minister had levelled several allegations against the 83-year-old NCP supremo, sparking a furore after which the party split vertically and the breakaway faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar joined the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra.

“They included the scams in the irrigation sector, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank and illegal mining. The allegations made by Modi were broadcast, played multiple times on television channels and reverberated on social media,” said Ambedkar, the grandson of the Chief Architect of Indian Constitution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

If the Prime Minister of the country is making such allegations publicly, then it must be coming from concrete information and proof, which he may have authenticated with the probe agencies -- ED, CBI, I-T -- available at his disposal, Prakash Ambedkar Ambedkar argued.

“Therefore, we request the Prime Minister, that within 10 days, he should file criminal cases against the said person (Sharad Pawar) involved in the corruption and initiate the recovery process for the said allegations involving Rs 70,000 crore."

He also said that either the Prime Minister should prove the allegations or apologise to Sharad Pawar for defaming him as slandering a senior leader, without concrete evidence, for electoral gains is not ethical and should not be done in politics.

Addressing mediapersons here, the VBA President warned that if Modi does not apologise to Sharad Pawar within 10 days, the party will launch strong agitations on this issue.

“Sharad Pawar is part of the political front INDIA, and therefore, we appeal to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray also to participate in the agitations,” he urged.