Union Minister Amit Shah targeted Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, accusing him of being “power-hungry”.
Addressing Bharatiya Janata Party volunteers at Pune, Shah said it was decided between the BJP and its then alliance partner, Shiv Sena that the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis, but the Uddav Thackeray-led party compromised with Hindutva for power.
“They sat on the lap of the ones against whom they have been fighting for two generations. They claimed that we never agreed on making the chief minister from the BJP. In your presence, I and PM Modi had said that the election is being fought under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis and he would be the chief minister. But since you had to be the chief minister, you betrayed us,” he said.
Continuing his attack, Shah mentioned that the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is a “punctured rickshaw” whose wheels are going in three different directions and is causing only pollution. He dubbed Congress a “dealer”, Shiv Sena a “broker” and said NCP is associated with “transfers”.
Amit Shah also dared Thackeray to quit office and fight elections again.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party fell out with BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra and joined hands with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Congress to form a government.
Apparently referring to the Anil Deshmukh case, Shah said big cases have been registered in connection with the commission being taken for effecting transfers (in Maharashtra) and big people have gone to jail.
“This government has only two principles- to criminalise politics and do ‘vasooli’ (extortion),” he added.
