Mumbai/Buldhana: The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Wednesday claimed that Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief leader Eknath Shinde has now become isolated within the MahaYuti, and the fear of a potential party split has started troubling him.
“It is out of this very fear that the drama of his displeasure and protests has unfolded. This MahaYuti was not formed based on ideology, development, or trust, but solely for power. But instead of accepting humiliation for the sake of power, Eknath Shinde should walk out of the government,” he said.
Sapkal, who launched the party’s campaign in Buldhana for local and civic body polls, said that the three parties in power have come together out of the helplessness that comes with holding onto power.
“This is a ‘gang of triple engine government’, which is why we are witnessing gang wars among them. Sometimes Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, upset, goes and sulks in a field in Dare village of Satara district, and sometimes the other Deputy Chief Minister goes missing,” he said.
He pointed out that if Eknath Shinde truly wants to register his protest or is genuinely upset, and if nothing concrete is happening, then he should step down from power.
“Since he cannot live without power, he will have to silently endure whatever harassment Devendra Fadnavis subjects him to,” he noted.
Speaking on the Pune land scam issue, Sapkal said that Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar went to Delhi and pleaded before Union Home Minister Amit Shah to save him.
“It appears he succeeded in negotiating a settlement in Delhi, and Parth Pawar seems to have received a clean chit. It also seems that Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar have reached some form of understanding. If that weren’t the case, action would not have been taken against only a few officers and the person with merely 1 per cent stake, while sparing Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar, who holds 99 per cent stake. Despite alleging a Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam against Ajit Pawar, the BJP still inducted him into the government,” he remarked.
Sapkal alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party has given tickets to the drug mafia, goons, corrupt individuals, and those facing serious criminal charges in the local and civic body elections.
“People with serious crimes are being inducted into the party and purified through washing,” he said.
However, he said the public must not endorse this distorted and criminal politics of the BJP.
(IANS)
