The Shiv Sena on Friday accused the BJP of gaining power in the state through immoral means and asked why the party did not honour the pact of rotational chief minister in 2019 if Devendra Fadnavis had to take oath as the deputy chief minister.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Sena recalled late prime minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who once said that he did not believe in breaking parties and securing power and that the present BJP should take a note of it.
The Sena said the BJP first took rebel MLAs, primarily of the Shiv Sena, to Surat, before being shifted to Assam and then Goa. It said thousands of security personnel meant to protect the country’s borders were brought to Mumbai using a special aircraft for protecting those MLAs who “betrayed” Bal Thackeray and Hindutva.
Sena president Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Maharashtra chief minister on Wednesday, days after party leader Eknath Shinde raised a banner of revolt. Majority of Sena MLAs sided with Shinde, leading to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of which NCP and Congress were constituents along with Sena.
A day after his resignation, Shinde took oath as the chief minister, while Fadnavis was sworn in as his deputy. “You have gained power through immoral means, but what next? The people have to answer this question. The Kauravas insulted Draupadi in their court and Yudhishthir witnessed it lifelessly, the party said.
A similar thing has happened in Maharashtra, it said. “But there was Lord Krishna. He saved Draupadi’s honour. Now, Krishna, in the form of public, will save Maharashtra’s honour and use their sudarshan chakra,” the party added. The party said it was surprised that Devendra Fadnavis, who wanted to become the chief minister, took oath as the deputy chief minister.
“When the same formula of rotational chief minister of two-and-half years was decided, then why was the Sena-BJP alliance severed,” he said. It also accused the BJP of misusing unlimited power and its overwhelming majority. “How will democracy survive by finishing the opposition parties,” it asked. After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election results, the BJP and Sena had parted ways following differences over sharing the chief minister’s post.
