Things are sorted out between BJP and Sena, says Fadnavis
MUMBAI: Days after Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in a U-turn came on board to support the NDA’s presidential candidate, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told HT that the meeting with BJP president Amit Shah had broken the ice between the warring allies.
While the Sena had continued its criticism of the BJP even a day after this meeting, with Thackeray terming selection of a Dalit for the Presidential post as vote bank politics, Fadnavis indicated that much of this could be his ally’s ‘public posturing’.
“Our meeting went off very well and on that day itself we knew this decision.. some of this is public posturing. I think we are quite sorted after that meeting,’’ Fadnavis told HT.
Fadnavis’ indication was that the new understanding with the Sena goes beyond presidential polls and would last until the end of his government’s term.
Sources in the BJP told HT that Shah had told Sena that after BJP’s compromise in handing out the mayor’s post to the party after Mumbai civic polls, more support was expected from the ally.
And a decision to not back the BJP in presidential polls just for the sake of opposition would be seen as the last straw for the alliance.
What has settled the diatribe for now is that both alliance partners are not keen on midterm or early polls. As such, in the meeting, it was decided not to stretch things to a point of no return.
Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the ongoing farmers’ protests and the BJP’s perceived bias against the co-operative sector, Fadnavis said that his party would continue to root out corruption in the sector, but was supportive of the co-operative movement and network as a whole.
“In the last two years, we have only tried to clean up the co-operative sector. We believe the sector is there to stay and is very important to Maharashtra. However, we will focus on stringent laws to keep a check on the scams in the co-operative sector. Our laws have withstood legal scrutiny,’’ said Fadnavis.
The BJP-led government’s approach towards the co-operative sector, whether it is sugar mills or banks, is being questioned by its political opponents. The Congress and the NCP dominate the co-operative network of sugar mills and banks in Maharashtra.
“This is a significant decision. Unfortunately, due to corruption, our co-operative banks started losing their relevance. There are scams in 16 co-operative banks, all under the tenure of the former government. The problem is that penetration of co-operative banks is high in Maharashtra and it will take nationalised banks at least three to four years to set up their network. So, if co-op banks are not there, in certain areas we will have no institutional banking facilities,’’ said Fadnavis.