Strongly condemning the arrests of MP Navneet and her MLA husband Ravi Rana and the assault on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya, Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said his party had boycotted the all–party meet over the loudspeaker issue as the Uddhav Thackeray–led tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was attempting to crush the Opposition by misusing the police machinery to lodge false cases.
At a press conference at the party office in Mumbai, Mr. Fadnavis said there was no longer any space for debate left under the ‘intolerant’ coalition of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
“While Home Minister [Dilip Walse–Patil] had invited us for the all–party meet, given the incidents in Mumbai and Maharashtra over the last few days, we decided to boycott it… I don’t think there is any room left for talks for someone choosing to behave in a Hitlerian manner. In that event, instead of debating them, it is better to fight them. And as we have become thus disposed, we decided to skip the meet,” said the former Chief Minister, remarking that a “black history” was being written by the Thackeray government.
