Concentrate on E for economy rather than B for Baramati: NCP to Sitharaman

Concentrating too much on other issues will make her face 'L for Loss' in both 'Baramati' and the 'Economy', Crasto said

Amid reports of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visiting Baramati again, the Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday advised her to concentrate on the Indian economy instead of prioritising the Maharashtra town, considered a stronghold of the party founder Sharad Pawar and his family.

“Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is concentrating so much on 'B for Baramati', that she has forgotten 'E for Economy’,” NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said on Saturday.

The Baramati Lok Sabha seat is represented by Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule while the Baramati Vidhan Sabha seat is represented by his nephew Ajit Pawar, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

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“Reports say that Sitharaman will be back once again in Baramati to work on winning that seat for BJP in the forthcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She has been tasked with the responsibility to make sure BJP defeats Supriya Sule. However, in the process of trying to do so, Sitharaman seems to have forgotten that she is also the Union Finance minister and her duty is to concentrate on our economy too,” Crasto said.

“During her tenure, she has failed to take care of our economy and has made frivolous unsubstantiated statements to cover the same. This prompted her party leader Nitin Gadkari to praise our former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for his handling of the Indian economy and also made him say - “India needs a liberal economic policy with the intention to provide its benefits to poor people," the NCP spokesperson pointed out.

“It is about time Sitharaman took her job seriously because concentrating too much on other issues will make her face 'L for Loss' in both 'Baramati' and the ‘Economy’,” he said.

Sitharaman had visited Baramati for three days in September, during which she had attended a series of programmes and meetings.