Never promised sharing of CM’S post in Maha to Shiv Sena, says Amit Shah
MUMBAI: Terming the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government a “three-wheeler” government which has failed on all fronts, Union home minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah reiterated that he never promised the Shiv Sena that it would share the chief ministership for an equal term. Shah also accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of victimising cooperative institutions controlled by BJP leaders. He added that had Devendra Fadnavis acted in the same fashion, the Sena would have vanished by now.
Shah inaugurated Lifetime Medical College, headed by party MP and former chief minister (CM) Narayan Rane, in Padave in Sindhudurg on Sunday afternoon in the presence of key state party leaders. Shah criticised the Sena, its leadership and the state government led by it in Maharashtra. He said that CM Thackeray compromised with the ideology and principles of the late Bal Thackeray.
Shah alleged that the cooperation sector and cooperative institutions controlled by BJP leaders in the state were being victimised. “Cooperative sector is the backbone of the agriculture sector and offers relief to farmers while selling their produce. But the three-party MVA government is targeting these institutions and sugar factories under the control of BJP leaders. But they cannot threaten us by targeting our sugar factories. We do not believe in vendetta politics,”
Shah said.
He also said he had never promised to share the post of CM with the Sena for an equal term. “They [Thackeray] say I had promised them about it in a closed-door meeting at Matoshree. I never do anything behind [closed] doors. Everything is done in daylight... Modiji and I had declared Devendraji [Fadnavis] as the next CM after the [2019] Assembly polls. Why did Thackeray, who used to share the dais with us, not object to it then?” he questioned.
Shah further stated that the BJP never retracts on its promise and that it was established when Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar CM despite winning fewer seats than the BJP.
Shah also said that Sena dishonoured the holy public mandate which was in favour of a government in Maharashtra led by Fadnavis under the guidance of PM Modi. He criticised the state government and its performance. “It’s (MVA government) is like a three-wheeler government and each of the party has its own path to follow. The government has failed on all the fronts,” he said.
Former CM and leader of opposition Fadnavis said the MVA government handled the Covid-19 pandemic poorly and it was reflected in the economic survey of India tabled in Parliament last week.
Retorting to Shah’s remarks, Sena MP and former Union minister Arvind Sawant asked why Shah took 15 months to give this explanation.
“If there was no such assurance given, then why had Fadnavis announced in a press conference immediately after the meeting at Matoshree in February 2019 that the decision of 50:50 power sharing was taken between the two parties. Shah was even part of the press conference. Why did Shah come to Matoshree if such an assurance was not given,” he said.
Citing that Shah has been boasting about not retracting from his words, Sawant further asked what the party did with Kuldeep Bishnoi of Haryana Janhit Congress after assurance was given to him a few years ago. The MP said that it is common history that BJP leaders have backtracked on every announcement made before the elections, be it implementation of GST or other major decisions.
Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Sunday tweeted, “In 1975, Rajni Patel and in the 90s similarly (I guess Murli Deora said) that Shiv Sena will be wiped off... Again in 2012 Prithviraj Chavan said the same thing and on both the occasions Shiv Sena came up even more stronger than earlier!”
The Sena severed its more than three-decade-old ties with the BJP during the 2019 Assembly polls and formed the MVA with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to assume power in Maharashtra.
The party had alleged the BJP did not keep its word of sharing the post of chief minister for equal number years in the fiveyear term. This removed the BJP, which had won 105 of 288 seats in the Assembly, from the seat of power to make it the key opposition party in the Assembly.