Mumbai, Apr 18 (IANS): As the campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections is gathering momentum, the MahaYuti partners have stepped up their attack on NCP SP chief Sharad Pawar saying that he is responsible for the present political situation in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena leader and school education minister Deepak Kesarkar at the MahaYuti’s joint press conference here on Thursday claimed that Pawar senior made several attempts to finish the Shiv Sena.

"Senior leader Sharad Pawar consistently made many attempts to finish the Shiv Sena. On the contrary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP tried to maintain the alliance with the Shiv Sena. However, since Uddhav Thackeray has fallen into Pawar's trap, he is making false allegations against PM Modi in a bid to gain sympathy," alleged Kesarkar who was accompanied by NCP minister Anil Patil and BJP legislator Prasad Lad.

Kesarkar said that the Shiv Sainiks, who are loyal to Balasaheb Thackeray's thoughts, should not fall prey to Pawar's delusions.

He stated that Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray have made many baseless allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party during the Lok Sabha election campaign.

"Shiv Sainiks, who are loyal to Balasaheb Thackeray’s thoughts, must know the facts. It is well known that Sharad Pawar split the Shiv Sena when Balasaheb Thackeray was still alive. After 2014, Pawar tried to see how a militant organization like Shiv Sena could be finished," he noted.

Seeing that no party got a majority on its own in the 2014 assembly elections , Pawar unilaterally announced his support to the Bharatiya Janata Party in a bid to reduce the Shiv Sena’s bargaining power. It was also due to his desire that the BJP and Shiv Sena should not come together again, said Kesarkar.

‘’In 2017, the BJP and the NCP held several meetings with micro planning about sharing the ministerial berths between the two parties. When the proposal was sent to Modi for his approval, he strongly conveyed that the alliance with Shiv Sena should continue. However, Pawar at that time had informed the BJP leadership that if Shiv Sena was with it, the NCP would not go with the BJP. The NCP will associate with the BJP if it breaks the alliance with the Shiv Sena,’’ said Kesarkar.

He added that Pawar wanted to go with the BJP in 2019 as well. But as those negotiations failed, he formed the government with the support of Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress.

"As Pawar believed that the NCP will not grow unless the Shiv Sena is finished, he always played the politics of dragging Shiv Sena's feet. Now this same Pawar has started a propaganda against the BJP for political selfishness," he claimed.