Addressing an election rally in Bhosari today, Rane flayed Pawar for hatching a conspiracy along with Sonia Gandhi for bringing down the government which had strengthened the country's defence and had led the nation to the path of development. BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Baramati Pratibha Lokhande, Shiv Sena candidate from the Haveli Assembly constituency Gajanan Babar, campaign chief Shashikant Sutar, district president Sunil Shinde, Pimpri-Chinchwad Shiv Sena unit president Mahadev Gavhane, PCMC opposition leader Amrut Parhad, Ankush Landge, and former mayor Tatya Kadam were among those present on the occasion.

Rane said the selfish interests of Sonia Gandhi and Pawar had put a huge burden of Rs 4,500 crore on the country because of the elections. Voters here have a good opportunity to take revenge against Pawar, who he said, should stop dreaming of becoming the prime minister ``with the support of eight to ten MPs.''

He attacked Pawar and Chagan Bhujbal for their allegations about the BJP-Shiv Sena government in the state being communal and that law and order had broken down. He countered that it was during Pawar's tenure as chief minister that gang wars had escalated. In Pawar's tenure four MLAs died in attacks and there were 3,500 communal riots, while during the BJP-Shiv Sena rule there were only 19 ``minor'' incidents, Rane said.

Pawar, he said, has been playing caste politics and has been making promises to the Muslims in the manifesto while doing nothing for them when he was in the government. Challenging Bhujbal to give specific examples, Rane said that Bhujbal's allegations of corruption and criminals were just crude and were being made only with the motive of securing votes.

Enlisting the achievements of his government, Rane claimed that there was a massive support for the alliance all over the State. He predicted that the BJP-Shiv Sena would be re-elected to power by winning 175 seats. Thirty-five MPs of the saffron alliance would be elected as MPs, he added.