Solapur, Apr 18 (IANS): Amid a massive show of strength despite the blistering summer heat, the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) Congress MLA, Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde, filed her nomination for the Solapur (SC) Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday.

Shinde (43) was accompanied by her father Sushilkumar Shinde, the ex-Union Home Minister and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, her family members, state Congress President Nana Patole, and other senior leaders of the MVA allies, including the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI-M, and AAP, among others.

Addressing the gathering, Patole hit out at the BJP-led Central government, accusing it of "pushing the country into decline for the past 10 years".

“Narendra Modi failed to fulfil the promises he made to the people… Instead, he leads a corrupt regime as corruption-accused leaders from all parties are now in the BJP. In contrast, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi communicated directly with the masses to understand their pains and problems through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the past couple of years,” Patole said.

Patole also slammed the state government for spoiling the culture of Maharashtra through the bull-dozer tactics of demolishing people's homes, as he appealed to the voters to unseat the BJP.

“The BJP has become a major hurdle in the development of the city or for solving the people's genuine problems. Now it's time to push it aside in the coming Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

Veteran CPI-M leader Narsayya Adam attacked the BJP for attempting to grab credit for the redevelopment of the sprawling Ray Nagar Colony in Solapur.

Stating that the major housing scheme on which he worked for decades was initiated in 2013 by senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Adam claimed the BJP is now trying to tout it as its own creation.