MUMBAI: As infighting within the two main opposition parties continues, the State government is likely to sail through the winter session of the legislature, which will begin in Nagpur on Monday.
“While the opposition is busy flashing swords, people are voting for us for our agenda of development,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on the performance of the BJP in local body polls, at Bhandup on Thursday. He was referring to the recent fight between the leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at a rally in Chembur where supporters of former party MP Sanjay Dina Patil and party’s chief spokesperson Nawab Malik, attacked each other with swords.
Nothing is cordial within the Congress as well. The party’s three former Chief Ministers — Ashok Chavan, Narayan Rane and Prithviraj Chavan — miss no attempt to target the other.
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Mr. Rane launched a volley of allegations on the party’s leadership for not trying to forge an alliance with the NCP, in the civic polls, which could have defeated the Sena-BJP alliance.
Rumours are rife about the disagreement between Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Prithviraj Chavan. Mr. Vikhe-Patil is also at odds with senior party leader Balasaheb Thorat, his fellow Congressman from Ahmadnagar.
The Congress and the NCP have failed to work as a united opposition. The rift was visible in the Legislative Council polls where both parties chose to contest independently, gifting two extra seats to the Sena-BJP alliance.
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A senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity said, “Both are different parties and have certain compulsions. We try to be on the same page but face failure. We expect to maintain better coordination in the winter session.”