Raising questions over the stability of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, Rajya Sabha MP and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday predicted that the two ruling parties are likely to part ways before the upcoming elections of the Mumbai Municipality in Feb 2017.
“A senior person who is a part of the government has said that both parties will part ways before Mumbai municipality elections,” said Mr. Pawar, while interacting with journalists in Aurangabad. The NCP chief however did not name his ‘source.’
Mr. Pawar’s comments came on a day when the Sena has reiterated its stand against the separate Vidarbha state in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana , asking the BJP government to act against supporters of this demand.
Ironically, state’s Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was one of the supporters of separate Vidarbha as an opposition leader.
“All 11 districts in Vidarbha witnessed flag-hoisting ceremony for separate state on the day of Maharashtra Day. Such programmes were organised in state-funded schools and colleges and it’s a matter of grave concern. The CM must investigate the traitor behind this,” said an editorial in Saamana published on Monday.
Referring to the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, who observe Independence Day as a Black Day and give ‘pro-Pakistan’ slogans, the editorial said that if those are called anti-national, then these people in Vidarbha too should be labelled as anti-Maharashtra.
