Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday alleged that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is being run from New Delhi and not Matoshree, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence in Bandra.
Making a veiled reference to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Fadnavis said the MVA’s remote control is being held by the ‘Matoshree’ in New Delhi. Mr. Fadnavis made the statement at an election rally in Palghar on Wednesday, adding fuel to the allegations that the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have greater control over the affairs of the MVA.
Kicking off the campaign for the zilla parishad polls in the district, Mr. Fadnavis asked voters to give a befitting reply to the Shiv Sena for “betraying the public mandate”. The Opposition leader said, “It is unfortunate that the Shiv Sena has had to make a compromise with those who abused Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar. The voters much teach them a lesson.”
Mr. Fadnavis said the voters were not at fault for giving a clear mandate to the BJP-Sena alliance in the Assembly polls. He said, “But it is the Sena which backstabbed the voters and betrayed their mandate. A government with this foundation cannot run for long,” he said. The zilla parishad polls will be held in Palghar on January 7 and the results will be declared the next day.
Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee secretary Sanjay Dutt hit back at Mr. Fadnavis. Mr. Dutt said it was shocking that such a statement was made by a person who himself was remote-controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah during his term as the chief minister.
He said, “Such wild allegations by the former CM only further establishes the fact that he has still not got over his embarrassing failure to hang on to the CM’s chair despite the BJP’s surreptitious early morning coup.”
