PUNE: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah and said the Centre was misusing power and foisting cases against leaders who were speaking out against their wrong policies.
Addressing a rally in Baramati, from where nephew and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is in the fray, Pawar asked the people to teach those misusing power a lesson in the October 21 polls.
Lashing out at Shah, he said, "I am asking you, did you hear Shah's name five years ago? The person whose name people don't know, whose contribution the country does not know is asking what I have done for Maharashtra," he said.
In a reference to senior leader P Chidambaram, Pawar said, "When a former finance minister criticised the government on its economic policies, some case was made and he was put behind bars. Similarly, my name was brought into the case of a bank in which I am not even a member."
Pawar was named by the ED in an alleged scam in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank.
Asserting that he was not scared of such tactics, Pawar said, "Do what you want to do. We have the power to face these things. In this election, time has come to answer them. We have to show those who misuse power their place."