A day after the State Cabinet reminded Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to nominate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for one of the two vacant seats in the Council, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, along with a delegation from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday held a meeting with Mr. Koshyari. The BJP leaders also claimed that the State government had created an atmosphere of undeclared emergency.
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By evening, a delegation of ministers from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, met the Governor and submitted a copy of the resolution passed by the Cabinet on Mr. Thackeray’s nomination.
The BJP delegation claimed that the actions taken by the MVA government against journalists — arrest of a Marathi television news channel reporter for allegedly broadcasting a report leading to rumours, warning to an English television news channel for broadcasting a fake news by naming a COVID-19 patient, and a 12-hour interrogation of an editor-cum-owner of an English news channel by the Mumbai Police — is a display of unabashed power of the State and creation of undeclared emergency.
“We informed Koshyari ji regarding the same and urged him to strongly convey his feelings to the State government,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) State president and Irrigation Minister Jayant Patil said that they had recommended Mr. Thackeray’s name to be nominated for one of the two vacant Council posts. “The entire State administration is presently involved in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Today, we met the Governor and submitted to him a copy of the resolution passed by the State Cabinet,” said Mr. Patil, after the meeting.
On Tuesday morning, NCP MP Supriya Sule in her social media address said that people without any work are criticising the government, without naming the BJP. “At a time when we are fighting the war against COVID-19, it is not right to bring political instability in the State,” she said.