After Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut indirectly criticised the Sena’s coalition ally, the Congress, for its talk of contesting polls alone, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Sunday said that the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance comprising the Sena, the NCP, and the Congress, was for a period of five years and not a permanent fixture.
“We formed this alliance (in 2019) for a period of five years [till the next Assembly election] with the objective of stopping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)… This is a not a permanent state of affairs. Every party has the right to strengthen its organisation,” said Mr. Patole, while detailing the Congress’ COVID-19 relief efforts.
On Saturday, Mr. Thackeray, in his capacity as president of the Shiv Sena and speaking on the occasion of the party’s 55th Foundation Day, took a thinly veiled jibe at the Congress by saying that the public would “beat with footwear” those [parties] who only talked about contesting polls alone without offering concrete solutions to people’s problems.
Mr. Patole, however, refused to be drawn into making a direct riposte at Mr. Thackeray’s comments, remarking that there was “no clarity” in Mr. Thackeray’s speech as to which party he was referring to.
“Even the BJP has spoken of contesting elections independently while previously, all the four major parties — the Congress, NCP, BJP and Sena — had contested the local bodies and Assembly polls independently,” the Congress chief said.
Earlier on Sunday, Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut had taken potshots at the Congress without naming it, saying that such parties must first emerge out of their confusion and then decide whether or not to contest polls alone.
“Some political parties in Maharashtra are speaking of fighting polls on their own. That is their lookout. But let there be no confusion on this count. One leader [read Mr. Patole] of that party says that it will fight on its own, while other leaders of that party say the opposite. So, such parties must first come out of their own confusion and then talk about how to fight the election,” Mr. Raut said.
The shadow-boxing between the MVA allies was further aggravated by Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik’s letter to Mr. Thackeray in which the Thane legislator urged the Chief Minister to join hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the estranged BJP once again on grounds that the Congress and the NCP were allegedly trying to wreck the Sena.
