After its expectations of forming a government in Maharashtra by legitimate means were dashed, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was attempting to seize power in the State by unleashing Central agencies against the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday.
Speaking during a day-long visit to Jalgaon district, Mr. Pawar, whose NCP shares power with the Shiv Sena and the Congress in the MVA government, further said that it would be his party’s endeavour to take both parties along in future elections as well in order to give Maharashtra “a stable government” and maintain “social equilibrium” in the State.
“Those [the BJP] whose expectations have been frustrated will do anything to grab power…one aspect of this is the continuous Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids. When the BJP saw that the three-party MVA is standing firm, Central agencies were let loose against us,” he said.
After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, the Shiv Sena fell out with the BJP over the Chief Minister’s post, thus terminating a 25-year-old alliance between the two saffron parties. The Sena forged a coalition with the ideologically opposed NCP and Congress to form the MVA government with its president Uddhav Thackeray as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister. However, Mr. Pawar is said to have been the architect of this unlikely political coalition of the three parties.
Expressing concern over the need to maintain social unity across the State, Mr. Pawar said that the earlier political tradition of resolving issues amicably was now changing. He was alluding to the BJP’s use of Central agencies and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s adoption of hardline Hindutva tactics, which could potentially disrupt communal harmony in the State.
The NCP chief also took potshots at BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis’ Twitter attack against him on Thursday, remarking that he [Mr. Pawar] failed to understand why Mr. Fadnavis persisted on dubbing him “casteist” when the NCP was one of the few parties to give political opportunities to people of all castes and communities.
“I fail to understand why Mr. Fadnavis is calling me ‘casteist’… I am amused by his tweets. It appears he has nothing to say of substance, so he is talking in this manner,” Mr. Pawar said.
Mr. Fadnavis, in a series of 14 tweets, had launched a broadside against Mr. Pawar, accusing the NCP chief of having a “track-record of appeasement politics” while censuring the NCP’s “double-standards” in appeasing the minority community.
Meanwhile, the NCP leadership led by Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, riposted by remarking that it was fashionable for certain people to make remarks against Mr. Pawar as it would ensure political mileage.
“It has become a trend of certain people to give statements against Sharad Pawar…Devendra Fadnavis’ allegations are baseless, there is no truth in them. The BJP has linked Mr. Pawar’s name with [fugitive underworld gangster] Dawood Ibrahim earlier as well. They have distorted facts and linked [jailed NCP Minister] Nawab Malik’s name to Dawood Ibrahim as well,” Mr. Walse-Patil said.
Dubbing Mr. Fadnavis’ allegations as “whimsical”, NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said that the BJP had realised it was now impossible to stop the NCP’s growth “as the most preferred party” in Maharashtra.
“Hence, by calling the NCP communal and targeting Mr. Pawar out of frustration, Mr. Fadnavis is trying to paint a communal picture as they cannot beat the NCP in development work,” Mr. Tapase said in a statement.
