The ongoing trouble between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seem to have only amplified after the serious drubbing the latter received in the Delhi assembly polls on Tuesday.
Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has called for a meeting of all party MLAs and Ministers to discuss their grievances against the BJP.
Sanjay Rathod, Sena’s Minister of State for Revenue in the Maharashtra Cabinet on Monday had asked permission from Mr. Thackeray to resign from his post. According to Sena sources, he cited the reason that he has no work to do despite being the minister and BJP’s cabinet minister is not letting him take any decisions or to work as per his wish.
On Tuesday, yet another Sena minister Ravindra Waikar too echoed the similar sentiments, complaining that Ministers of State are kept in dark by the Cabinet Ministers about many decisions. “Decisions taken in the cabinet should be conveyed to us. We don’t get it now,” said Mr. Waikar.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rubbished all the claims made by Sena’s State Minister. “Cabinet Minister decides how much power should be given to a state minister. I have received similar complaints against the Sena’s Cabinet Ministers,” he said, adding that the process for better and smooth functioning of the government is still in progress.
Sena has five Cabinet and an equal numbers of Ministers of State in the Maharashtra Ministry at present. The BJP kept important portfolios such as Finance, Home and Revenue with itself, while the Sena was asked to work on Environment, Health and Industry.
Sena’s unhappiness over playing a second fiddle to the BJP was always discussed under hushed tone since the swearing in ceremony. However on Tuesday, Mr. Thackeray re-ignited the debate by terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the debacle in Delhi.
Sena mouthpiece Saamna too on Wednesday rubbed salt on the BJP’s injury by saying that the BJP was reduced to ‘dirt’ due to AAP’s ‘broom.’
“The entire campaign machinery in Delhi was run under Modi’s name. There was no space for other leaders because of this. Anna Hazare has claimed that the defeat in Delhi was Modi’s defeat. We too feel the same,” the editorial said.
The editorial claimed that it was Maharashtra which had first worked on ebbing the Modi tide. It also claimed that the promises made by the Modi government were yet to be fulfilled. “Unemployment has not gone down, inflation has not come down, and people are still homeless. Promises have not been fulfilled,” it added.
