CM Uddhav dares BJP to pull down MVA govt
BJP leaders talk of mid-term polls, say three-party govt will fall
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to pull down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government if they can. The MVA government is a coalition between Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.
The Sena chief’s attack on his estranged ally came in response to statements by BJP leaders that the state government will “collapse owing to infighting and there will be mid-term elections”.
The spat between Thackeray and BJP leaders took place in the backdrop of resentment within the ruling coalition over the CM’S decision to not oppose the Centre’s move to hand over the Elgar Parishad probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is considered the architect of the MVA government, had on Friday criticised Thackeray over the decision to let go of the case. On Saturday, Congress’s Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge, too, expressed dissatisfaction over the transfer of the case. “This isn’t fair. We are partners and such things should be discussed. You [Uddhav Thackeray] may have power, but one should use it judiciously. Our ministers are there, they will fight,” said Kharge. Maharashtra BJP leaders grabbed the opportunity to hit out at the ruling alliance, saying there will be “mid-term polls” in the state. Speaking at the BJP’S two-day state executive meeting in Navi Mumbai, BJP’S Maharashtra unit chief Chandrakant Patil said the “three-party government will collapse due to internal differences”.
“We will not make any efforts to topple it, the government will come down on its own owing to infighting. We have begun preparations for mid-term polls,” said Patil, adding that an “Operation Lotus will be conducted after April”.
Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, too, said the “ruling alliance will break”. “MVA has differences on several issues and they are coming out in the open. I believe these differences will keep increasing and a time will come that this government will collapse,” said Khadse. Thackeray, however, launched a counter-attack on BJP in the presence of Pawar, as they attended two functions at Jalgaon. Thackeray ridiculed BJP over their ‘Operation Lotus’ plan in Maharashtra. “Why are you talking about toppling the MVA government tomorrow? I challenge you to pull it down today. Being the son of Balasaheb Thackeray, I like to take up challenges and this challenge I have accepted,” he said at a farmers’ rally in Muktai Nagar, Jalgaon. Thackeray and Pawar chose not to talk about the differences in the ruling alliance over the Elgar Parishad case handover to NIA. Thackeray said he will speak on it at an “appropriate time”.
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