Mumbai:
Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday took a swipe at former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis assertion that he will come back again as chief minister of Maharashtra. Speaking to newspersons here, he said “I shall not make comments like I shall come back again. We will not be coming and going. We shall stay very much in Maharashtra. Once we shall be in power we shall remain in power for the next 25 years.”
The senior Sena leader stated that it is not that difficult to draft the Common Minimum Program (CMP). There are some issues like drought, unseasonal rains where we can work together. Raut added that the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has had years to experience in running the state government. Taking pot-shots at Fadnavis, he said that the Sena is not going to assert that I shall be coming back and added that the Sena does not believe in this coming in and going out of power and once in power the Sena shall stay in power for the next 25 years.
Asked to comment upon NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s jibe at Fadnavis, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrakant Patil remarked that the BJP is keeping a close watch on the political developments in the state. He argued that the BJP which has its own 105 MLAs and with the support of 14 Independent’s and allies has support of 119 MLAs. Patil contended that no government can be formed without the BJP being part of it. He argued that the cobbled up (khichadi) government will not last long. Patil argued that the BJP was not in talks with anyone and expressed confidence that the BJP will form the next.
Earlier, in the day, state NCP spokesperson Nawab Mallik remarked that the Congress still appears to be hesitant of being part of a government that has Sena in it. He added that without the Congress, there cannot be stability to the government. Alleging that the BJP had insulted the Sena over the Chief Ministers post assurance, he added that the Sena will have its Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, commenting upon senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde saying there not much ideological difference now between the Sena and Congress, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy termed the remarks as a joke. Arguing that a fracture in the Hindutva movement was not beneficial, he argued that BJP has to go that extra mile to accommodate the Sena. He further remarked that after supporting the likes of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the Congress since 1967 has since then never been loyal to its allies.
