Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has “crossed all the limits” and “such people should not be given crucial posts”, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said on Thursday criticising the former for his recent remark on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
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“I heard his comments about Shiv Chhatrapati and now he has crossed all the limits. Though he praised Shivaji Maharaj yesterday, it is a late realisation,” Mr. Pawar said.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, the 81-year-old NCP chief said the President of India and the Prime Minister should take a call on the incumbent Governor.
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Mr. Pawar said his party did not comment against Mr. Koshyari earlier to maintain the dignity of the post of Governor which represents an institution.
Recently, the Maharashtra Governor made a remark by calling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj an ‘icon of olden times’, and said there were icons such as Ambedkar and Nitin Gadkari in modern times.
Opposition party leaders, including Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole criticised the Governor and demanded him to recall his remark.
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On Wednesday, NCP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Ajit Pawar, said that Mr. Koshyari was deliberately making controversial statements so that the Central government would shift him out of the State. “He (Mr. Koshyari) told me he wanted to be relieved,” he claimed.
“Whenever I visited him at Raj Bhavan, he always told me that he wanted to leave Maharashtra. When a government official is posted in some position against his or her will, they create some controversy which forces the government to issue transfer orders. I can’t say if he is trying to do the same thing here,” he said.
Interestingly, the Maharashtra Governor is on a two-day Delhi tour starting Thursday.