Move a setback to MVA coalition, who had withdrawn the general consent to the CBI when they were in power.
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Mumbai: According to sources, the new BJP- Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena government restored the general consent given to the central probe agency, with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde clearing the Home Department’s proposal to reverse the previous MVA government’s decision to withdraw general consent granted to the CBI. The state Home ministry is headed by Devendra Fadnavis.
The Shinde-Fadnavis government’s decision is being viewed as a major setback for the opposition MVA coalition of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, given that the move clears decks for the CBI to probe opposition leaders and cases of political importance.
In October 2020, the Uddhav Thackeray-led had withdrawn the general consent to the CBI on grounds that the BJP-ruled central government was ‘misusing’ central probe agencies to settle political scores.
The Centre-State war had intensified after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election when Uddhav Thackeray had severed ties with the BJP – its long-standing saffron ally – to join hands instead with the ideologically opposed NCP and Congress and form the MVA.
Commenting upon the development, Uddhav camp loyalist Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sawant said the move laid bare the true intentions of the Shinde-Fadnavis government which was to persecute the opposition by framing false cases against them.
The Sena MP further remarked, “Many states have withdrawn the general consent to the CBI… Even the Supreme Court has said that the CBI is the puppet of the (Central) government. The fact that the new Maharashtra government has reversed our earlier decision signals their real intentions.”
Meanwhile, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule welcomed the government’s decision while taunting the MVA coalition.
“Why did the Thackeray-led MVA withdraw the consent to the CBI to probe cases in the State? What are the MVA leaders scared of? If they indeed have nothing to hide, then they should have let the CBI investigate cases in Maharashtra,” remarked Bawankule. He added that the new decision will now expose the alleged corruption and malpractices committed by the MVA leaders.
