Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday mounted a scathing attack on opposition stalwart and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and dubbed him the leader of corruption in the country.

Addressing the BJP's state convention in Pune, he also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for displaying arrogance despite loss in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and called Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray the head of the Aurangzeb fan club who was sitting with people that sought clemency for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon.

He said the BJP-led Mahayuti will do better in the Maharashtra assembly polls than what the party did in the 2014 and 2019 editions.

"Sharad Pawar institutionalized corruption," the senior BJP leader said in Pune.

Asserting that people of India gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi their stamp of approval in recent Lok Sabha elections, Shah said the arrogance of Rahul Gandhi will be crushed after "we win forthcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana".

Attacking the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, Shah said, "Uddhav Thackeray is sitting with those who sought clemency for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon." "Who is the Aurangzeb fan club? Those who serve biryani to (26/11 terror attack convict) Kasab, those who seek clemency for Yakub Memon, those who give (controversial Islamic preacher) Zakir Naik a messenger of peace award and those who support the (banned Islamist outfit) PFI. Uddhav Thackeray should be ashamed of sitting with these people," Shah asserted.

Praising BJP workers, Shah said they should not get perturbed by the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra (where the party's tally went down from 23 in 2019 to nine in 2024), adding that they could revive themselves in the state polls by taking the good work and welfare schemes of the government to the masses.

"Every BJP worker from Maharashtra has taken efforts in the party’s victory. The BJP-led alliance will perform better in ensuing Maharashtra assembly polls than it did in 2019 and 2014. We will work harder and set new goals for ourselves. The saffron must rise again in Maharashtra," Shah asserted.

He praised Pune as the city of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the land that gave the country the slogan "Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it".

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