Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 8 : Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday alleged that the Pune Metro project made no progress during NCP leader Ajit Pawar's tenure as Guardian Minister, accusing the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party of misleading the public.
Speaking to reporters after travelling on the Pune Metro and interacting with commuters, Mohol said that although discussions on bringing a Metro system to Pune began in 2001, the project remained stalled until 2014.
"Between 2001 and 2014, when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and Ajit Pawar was the Guardian Minister of Pune, the Metro project did not move forward even by an inch," Mohol said, adding that the project gained momentum only after 2014 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Claiming that the BJP alone gave real impetus to the Pune Metro, Mohol said, "Only the Bharatiya Janata Party truly accelerated the Pune Metro project. Today, nearly two lakh Punekars travel daily on the 31-km Metro network. If you ask these commuters, they will unequivocally say that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who started the Metro."
He further said that instead of misleading citizens with false claims, Ajit Pawar should demonstrate the role played by the Congress or the NCP in the Metro project, alleging that Pawar was making baseless statements as he had nothing concrete to present ahead of the elections.
Earlier, during a Public rally for the election campaign in Pune, Ajit Pawar took a dig at the BJP for claiming credit for the Metro project and had stated that the Pune Metro project had received approval during the tenure of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and that the foundation stone was laid thereafter.