Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ unexpected visit to New Delhi to attend a conference of Chief Ministers from across the country to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed him in a piquant situation as it clashes with the customary tea party to be hosted by him on the eve of the State Assembly session at Nagpur.
The NCP lashed out at Mr. Fadnavis, with NCP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday commenting that Mr. Fadnavis’ tea-party invite to the Opposition was “utterly insulting”.
“It was the first time in the State’s political history that the CM, being host was absent from his own function,” said Mr. Pawar, speaking to reporters here.
“If Mr. Modi has summoned the Chief Minister to Delhi, then the latter could surely have invited us in the morning,” Mr. Pawar commented.
The Congress, too, has taken offence with Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar calling the whole thing “a farce”.
The Chief Minister’s tea party with opposition leaders is a traditional event before the start of every Assembly session in Mumbai or Nagpur to discuss important issues to be debated in the State Legislature.
Mr. Fadnavis is to participate in the conference, which pertains to the revamping of the Planning Commission. Mr. Fadnavis, however, had said that his ministers would be present to welcome the opposition parties.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pawar, whose party had earlier pledged unconditional and unsolicited support to the BJP government in the interests on ‘stability’, said that it would corner the BJP-Sena government for its alleged ‘failure’ to palliate the woes of drought-hit farmers in the upcoming winter session of the State Legislature.
On the saffron party’s about-turn, Mr. Pawar said it was “politically fickle” and “only wanted power for power’s sake”.
“Why couldn’t the Sena remain in the opposition and play a constructive role? It only shows it was hankering after power instead of keeping the interests of the people in mind,” he said.
With the Sena no longer the chief opposition party, Mr. Pawar said that the NCP would lay claim to the leader of opposition in the Assembly as it had the third-largest number of MLAs, 41 as opposed to the Congress’s 37 legislators.
The issue has sparked further animosity between the former allies, with Congress leader Manikrao Thakre deriding Mr. Pawar’s pretensions in Mumbai and commenting that the Opposition leader in the Assembly would be a Congress candidate.
