MUMBAI: Union Interior Minister Amit Shah denied on Sunday having promised Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray that the head of the ministry would remain in rotation between the BJP and Shiv Sena after the elections to the assembly of Maharashtra 2019. “No such promise was ever made to them. I make promises not in a closed room, but in public meetings, outdoors, loud and clear,” he said at a meeting in Malwan.
It was Shah’s first visit to Konkan, the coastal region that Shiv Sena covets as his stronghold, after the 2019 state elections. Shah was there to inaugurate a 150-seat medical college built by former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, a deputy and ally of the NDA.
He accused the Seine of gaining power in the state by downplaying the principles of the late Balasaheb Thackeray. Shah said that Shiv Sena’s very existence as a political party would have been in jeopardy if the BJP had taken the route Thackeray’s party took to stay glued to power.
Deputy Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena’s main spokesperson, tweeted a response within a few hours: “In 1975 Rajni Patel and in the 90s similarly (I guess Murli Deora said) that Shiv Sena will be deleted. Again in 2012 Prithviraj Chavan said the same and both times Shiv Sena came out even stronger than before, Jai Maharashtra. ”
Another Shiv Sena MP, Arvind Sawant, said Thackeray would never lie to anyone. “It took Amit Shah over a year to talk about the closed-door meeting. This explains everything,” Sawant said.
Shah’s speech at the meeting in Malwan was a clear indication that the BJP was not in the mood to revive his friendship with Matoshree, the Thackeray residence in Bandra (east) which is the center of power of the Shiv Sena, and that he wanted Let your party go hammer and pinch against its former ally during the 2022 BMC elections.
“They [the Shiv Sena] He insulted the holy mandate given by the people of Maharashtra during the assembly election, “he said.” The mandate was in favor of the BJP-Sena alliance with Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister. However, they put aside the principles and values of the late Balasaheb Thackeray and joined the Maha Vikas Aghadi. ”
Shah said that the MVA government was like a three-wheeled autorickshaw where all the wheels moved in different directions.
“The regime of Maha Vikas Aghadi, led by the Seine, was born out of a lust for power,” he said. “The Seine has become ‘laachaar’ for power.”
By stating that the BJP has always kept promises made to its allies, Shah refuted Uddhav Thackeray’s repeated claim that he, the BJP’s national chairman at the time, had promised him that the BJP and Shiv Sena would share the CM position for two and a year. half a year each after the 2019 elections.
“Although the BJP won more seats in the assembly than the JD (U) in the assembly elections in Bihar last year, we offered the post of chief minister of Bihar to Nitish Kumar,” Shah said. “We did not renege on our promise. However, we had not made any promise to the Seine to share the CM ship in Maharashtra.”
He said that the Shiv Sena had campaigned jointly with the BJP before the state assembly elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Devendra Fadnavis and knew all the time who was the CM candidate in the alliance.
“The Sena never once brought up the CM-Ship issue during the election campaign. We had cast Fadnavis as our CM candidate,” Shah said.
Shah assured Rane, a former Shiv Sena man and now his staunch enemy, that the BJP would treat him with “respect and dignity.”
“The Sena has been committed to its ideology of power. However, the BJP prioritizes ideology over power and politics,” he said.
Shah accused Thackeray of failing to travel the Konkan belt in the wake of last year’s hailstorm, which destroyed the mango and cashew crop.
“The CM did not bother to tour Konkan. On the other hand, Devendra Fadnavis visited the devastated villages three times,” he said.
The Union Interior Minister paid enthusiastic tributes to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who said that he fought the Mughal regime with exemplary courage and understood the strategic importance of a robust naval force.
Shah said that the battle against Covid-19 was a great success, as Prime Minister Modi had inspired the entire nation to join forces with doctors, paramedics and Covid-19 warriors in facing the pandemic in full force.
“Soon, the nation will supply the Covid-19 vaccine to other countries,” he said. “Today, many countries are embracing India’s line of drugs to combat the dreaded disease. India has recorded the highest rate of recovery due to concerted efforts by the Modi government to improve health infrastructure and streamline resources. to improve Medicare facilities for the poor and disadvantaged. ”
Citing the latest figures, Shah said that nearly 55 lakh citizens had been vaccinated in 21 days.
Former CM Devendra Fadnavis accused the state government of not designing a comprehensive plan to combat Covid-19. Citing the latest Economic Survey, he said that the state’s performance on the Covid-19 front had been very poor.
“However, the BJP did everything it could to help the state government during the Covid-19 crisis,” Fadnavis said.
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