‘ BJP has no face for Maha CM’
Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has asserted that he is the Congress’ top- most leader in the state. He claimed that the BJP will suffer because the party has no face for the chief minister’s post. The BJP has “too many urbanised and brahmanical faces” and none are worth marketing as the CM, Mr Chavan told this newspaper in an interview. He also questioned Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s ability to lead the state and dismissed MNS chief Raj Thackeray, saying he had shot himself in the foot.
The chief minister, who has been at the receiving end of allegations from NCP chief Sharad Pawar and some leaders of his own party that he is slow in clearing files, refuted the charge and said that the people who accused him had “vested interests”.
“Who comes to Mantralaya and the CM to get their work done? A common man does not come to the CM, he will go to the concerned office. It is usually a person who wants extra favours from the government. When such a file comes to me, I must evaluate it and decide whether such concessions should be given and at what cost. As chief minister, I am supposed to take decisions in favour of the state and not in favour of some individuals,” Mr Chavan said.
He also claimed that he is more efficient than any of his predecessors. “There was never any delay in taking a decision on a policy matter or a social welfare scheme. The number of files that my government has cleared is unprecedented and that figure can be checked online on the state government’s website,” he said.
After the Adarsh scam, the Congress sent Mr Chavan to Maharashtra with the brief to change “public perception” that the state government was corrupt. Mr Chavan said that he has made his best efforts to bring transparency. But when asked whether he has succeeded in weeding out corruption, he was candid enough to accept that it was still half- done. He said, “I have made great headway, but a lot of work still remains to be done.”
Mr Chavan is confident that the work done by him will be able to keep his party in power in Maharashtra. The govern- ment has been carrying out a multi- crore ad campaign to let people know about the work done by them.
“The Congress has declared that it will fight the elections under my leadership. The Shiv Sena seems to have announced Uddhav Thackeray’s name as their chief ministerial candidate, but the question is whether he will be able to govern the state. The BJP has too many urbanised and brahmanical faces and they cannot market any of these faces as the CM. If they don’t declare their candidate, their campaign will suffer the same infirmity the Congress did during the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.