Pawar praises Savarkar

MUMBAI: Launching his election campaign in Mumbai, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday heaped praise on Veer Savarkar for his contribution to t...

MUMBAI: Launching his election campaign in Mumbai, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday heaped praise on Veer Savarkar for his contribution to the freedom struggle.

Pawar dared both Shiv Sena and BJP to endorse Savarkar’s revolutionary ideas. ‘‘Savarkar had written that the cow was mere an useful animal and could serve as food for human beings once it outlived its utility. Do Sena-BJP leaders have the guts to propagate such thinking,’’ Pawar asked.

‘Don’t recall praising him’

PATNA: Railway Minister Laloo Prasad on Sunday said he did not remember when he wrote a message in appreciation of Savarkar. ‘‘I do not remember writing in praise of Savarkar. We politicians sign and write so many things, this might have been one but I do not remember. I still hold the view that Savarkar was not a true patriot as he had written on three occasions to the British to get him released from jail during the freedom movement,’’ he told reporters here.

Savarkar issue over: Alva

MUMBAI: The Congress on Sunday said the Veer Savarkar issue was over and no party should politicise it in order to gain mileage during the Maharashtra polls. ‘‘The issue of insult of Veer Savarkar is over,’’ AICC general secretary and incharge of party affairs in Maharashtra Margaret Alva said referring to the PM’s statement on the issue. —(ENS & PTI)