Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis came in for sharp criticism from his party colleagues on Wednesday, a day after he quit his second tenure under dramatic circumstances following the resignation of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders held an introspection meeting on Wednesday where leaders openly voiced discomfort against the decision to take support from Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Senior leaders said the party would have been better off without the support of a “scam-tainted” leader. Instead, BJP should have backed the old guard, which would have added another 25 seats to party’s tally, senior leaders said voicing the brewing discontent within the party.
“My personal opinion is that BJP should not have taken support of Ajit Pawar. He is an accused in the massive irrigation scam and faces many allegations, so we should not have allied with him,” former cabinet minister and senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse told reporters on Wednesday.
Mr. Khadse was removed from the Cabinet following allegations of favoritism and illegalities in the Revenue Department headed by him. He said leaders like him, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Vinod Tawde and some others were “deliberately kept out” of the election campaign.
Apart from Mr. Khadse, seven other senior Cabinet ministers were not fielded by BJP in the just concluded elections . “The party would have secured another 20 to 25 seats if it had taken people like us along, instead of keeping us away,” Mr. Khadse said.
Other leaders said the decision to withdraw was made by the State unit’s core committee, which met on Tuesday following the Supreme Court ruling. “The party changed its opinion after the court ruling, we had a meeting of the core committee which decided party has no majority and Mr. Fadnavis should resign. There should not be any horse trading was also a common view,” said senior leader Babanrao B. Pachpute.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fadnavis told reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises that he would speak at the right time about the support extended by Mr. Ajit Pawar. “I will say the right thing at the right time, don’t worry. It is not the right time to comment if the decision to team up with Ajit was right or wrong. We will assess it in the future. The decisions were all made at the State level,” he said taking the brunt of the embarrassment caused to the party.
