Modi 'balloon' will burst soon, says Pawar

Amid growing clamour in the Bharatiya Janata Party for Narendra Modi to spearhead the party's challenge in the next Lok Sabha elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar Friday likened the Gujarat strongman to an "inflated balloon" that would "burst" soon.

"In my political career spanning 40-50 years I have found that more a balloon is inflated the sooner it bursts," he said.

Pawar, also Union agriculture minister, was asked to comment on the buzz in the BJP over Modi becoming chairman of its campaign committee for the general elections that would firmly pitch him as party's prime ministerial candidate.

When asked whether he endorsed Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's view that retirement age for politicians should be capped at 65 years, Pawar said, "In politics, it is the people who decide when a politician should resign."

He, however, said he stuck to his decision not to contest elections.

"I am not going to contest elections but I am not retiring from politics," he said.

Image: Sharad Pawar