PUNE: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the oath of office for a historic third successive term, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Monday sought to know whether he had a “mandate” to lead the country.

Pawar, a critic of the BJP, pointed out that the saffron party fell short of a majority in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections and had to take the support of its allies to form the new coalition government at the Centre.

He was speaking at a party congregation in Ahmednagar, around 125km from Pune, organised on the occasion of the NCP’s 25th foundation day where newly-elected MPs of the outfit were felicitated.

Reader correspondent