Sena chief campaigns against ally

KANKAVLI: A day after former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane merged his party, Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed Rane at a rally in Kankavli in Sindhudurg district, without naming him.

Rane’s son, Nitish is the BJP candidate from this seat which he had won on a Congress ticket in the previous assembly polls. Though the BJP and Shiv Sena have an alliance, the Sena has fielded Satish Sawant, a close aide of Narayan Rane.

“Despite the alliance, I have come here to ensure the victory of the Sena candidate. Had the BJP given a ticket to a loyal party worker, I would have come for his campaigning,” Thackeray said. “I am not here to criticise BJP. I don’t want this revengeful attitude in my party but also don’t want it in BJP. They are known for backstabbing,” he said.

Narayan Rane was expelled from Sena by Bal Thackeray — Uddhav’s father and Sena founder — for revolting against Thackeray’s authority.

Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-led government is targeting and poaching leaders from the Opposition ahead of the October 21 assembly polls. He spoke to Surendra P Gangan. Read edited excerpts:

Why do you think people should vote for Congress in the assembly elections?

People have now realised that the Devendra Fadnavis government has been a failure. Farmers’ suicides in Marathwada and Vidarbha have increased. In its assembly manifesto, the BJP has promised to generate one crore jobs, but it has failed to keep its 2014 promise of two crore jobs a year in the country. People are losing their jobs due to a drop in production in the automobile, among other sectors. They voted on nationalist issues in Lok Sabha polls, but it won’t be repeated in state polls. Modi wave does not exist anymore.

If you think there is unrest among the people, why did the Opposition fail to raise these issues?

We did raise issues. We did not get much publicity, but that doesn’t mean the Opposition didn’t do anything on ground. The issues should have been taken to their logical end where we failed. The issue of Aarey tree cutting (for construction of a car shed for Mumbai Metro) and Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank should have been taken up in the campaign in Mumbai, but we have not done it. Our leader of Opposition, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, was the face of the Opposition, but he defected to the ruling party. His decision did not happen overnight, it must have been cooking for quite some time.

Why did the Opposition fail to keep its flock together?

Our leaders were threatened with inquiries, agencies like Enforcement Directorate and Department of Income Tax were used to initiate action against institutions. Then [Opposition leaders] were assured protection from the action if they joined the ruling parties. Those who joined them were scared of some or the other action against them. The ones who did not budge are still on the radar.

But why should they be afraid of any action if they are not involved in any wrongdoing?

It is not about wrongdoing. An inquiry can be initiated for anything if one is running an institution. A notice in response to allegations of corruption or an inquiry is enough to malign the image as the case goes on for years, and even if you are proven innocent, the (political) damage is already done. People in public life are worried about this modus operandi. Action is not taken against the ruling party politicians involved in corruption and irregularities. Why no concrete action is being taken against the directors of the PMC Bank?

Are you saying that more Congress leaders are on radar of the BJP?

Yes of course. The BJP has been using government machinery in this election. Our leaders are

Loharu Bahadurgarh Gurgaon Faridabad

Both Congress and BJP have always been anti-dalit and they were conspiring against the reservation to weaken Dalits and deprived. Due to the racist and anti-dalit mentality of BJP and Congress, the Dalits of Haryana were subjected to humiliation and exploitation by their people... MAYAWATI, Bahujan Samajwadi Party president