The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party dared the Shiv Sena to vote against Money Bill in the forthcoming budget session of the State Assembly.
“If Sena is bitterly opposed to the BJP, then let them vote against the budget and reveal their intentions on the floor of the House. It will be a good floor test for the government,” Nawab Malik, chief party spokesperson, said on Thursday. The session begins on March 6.
The NCP said it will insist on a vote to determine Sena’s stand on the BJP-led alliance government. The Sena and the BJP continue to stay together in the state government even as they fight separately and bitterly in the run-up to the Mumbai municipal election on February 21. The BJP has 122 legislators while the Sena has 63 legislators, and if the Sena fails to support the BJP in the budget, then the government could be in trouble. The NCP, which has 41 legislators in the State, said it will not support “communal parties like Sena or BJP for power in Maharashtra”.
When asked why his own party had Malik offered unconditional support to the BJP soon after the 2014 state election results, he replied, “We did not want Maharashtra to be in a state of suspended animation. The support came at a time when it looked like no single party could form the government on its own. It does not mean we supported the BJP.” Mr. Pawar was recently quoted as saying that Maharashtra is ripe for mid-term polls, and that the NCP is ready for it.
The NCP, an erstwhile partner of the Congress, is going solo in Mumbai by contesting 174 of the 227 seats. It has asked its local leadership to offer support to candidates of other parties such as Congress, Samajwadi Party or even independents, Malik said. “However,” he said, “that local district chiefs were told to avoid supporting candidates of parties like Shiv Sena, BJP, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and Muslim League.
The NCP said it will complain to the Election Commission against BJP’s ad spend in print and television, claiming “it ran in excess of ₹ 500 crore” this election season. Ad spends should be added to election expenses of each of the 227 BJP candidates. It criticised BJP’s decison to seek action against the Sena mouthpiece Saamna for allegedly violating the Election Code of Conduct, and called it “a murder of democracy”. He said: “BJP raised its voice against suppression of speech during the Emergency, but is itself unable to handle criticism.”
