Mumbai:
Minutes after Devendra Fadnavis officially tendered his resignation as the Chief Minister to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Friday evening, the gloves were off between him and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray as they accused each other of lying. Both claimed that they were deeply pained and were shocked at the kind of statements the other side made against them and their leaders.
The break down in ties between the two estranged ruling allies has reached a point of no return at least for now. Sticking to their respective stance, both the leaders claimed that it will be their Chief Minister who will head the next government. Fadnavis flatly denied that the BJP was indulging in any horse-trading and dared the Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party to prove its allegations or apologise. He added that the BJP will not indulge in any politics of “Tod-Phod”.
However, according to a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator who while speaking on conditions of anonymity remarked “the issue is all over for us as for now”. Indicating that the BJP has refused to let go of its claim on the Chief Ministers post and hence there was no point in talking to Sena over the issue as of now.
It may be recalled that the BJP has indicated that it was willing to sit in the opposition if the Sena refused to budge from its demand of sharing the Chief Ministers post and sharing cabinet portfolio’s. The BJP leader admitted that the Sena had cozied up with the NCP. Sources in the BJP further disclosed that in coming few days the Sena is also likely to ask its Union Minister for Heavy Industries, Arvind Sawant to tender his resignation from the union cabinet.
Sticking point for both the leaders was apparently the assurance of sharing the Chief Minister’s post. Fadnavis flatly denied having any knowledge of any such assurance given by BJP president Amit Shah in his presence. However, Thackeray claimed that during his meeting with Shah in late Sena chief Balasaheb Thackerays room at Matoshri, he had walked out of the talks as Shah had offered Sena the Deputy Chief Ministers post. Later on Shah had agreed to sharing the post.
Thackeray claimed that he had told Shah that he had promised late Sena chief that one day he will install a Shivsainik as the chief minister of Maharashtra. He further claimed that during that meeting Fadnavis had pleaded to him not to make the announcement of sharing the chief ministers post publicly as it would cause problems for him within the BJP. He added that during the assembly elections he agreed to state BJP president Chandrakant Patil’s request to understand BJPs problems and contested lesser seats. He added that every time he was not duty bound to accommodate the concerns of the BJP.
The Sena president argued that what pained him was that the BJP tried to portray him as a liar. Thackeray admitted that he shut off all talks with the BJP leadership after that arguing that the son of late Sena chief could never lie. He also pleaded ignorance over the alleged negotiations the Sena was having with the Congress and NCP leadership over possible alliance for formation of a government.
Thackeray even retorted back asking the BJP leadership to introduce him to the Congress leadership. His remarks were in sharp contrast to stated fact that his trusted lieutenant Sanjay Raut had met fellow Congress Rajya Sabha MP Hussain Dalwai few days ago. Raut was at Silver Oak residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar where they watched media interaction of Fadnavis on Television. Fadnavis on the other hand was at loss of words to explain as to why the BJP had tolerated the Sena sharing power with it, even as it continued to criticize it publicly.
Fadnavis on the other hand disclosed that the BJP leadership was shocked at Thackeray after the assembly election results were announced on October 24 had declared that all the options were open for the Sena. Accusing the Sena president of stalling the talks, he said that even his phone calls were not received by the Sena president. To which Thackeray shot back that he could not entertain those who called him a liar.
The Acting Chief Minister on the other hand remarked that what hurt him the most that while they had no time for talks with the BJP, they were holding talks with the Congress and NCP leaders, sometimes thrice a day. Another thing that pained Fadnavis was the constant barrage of criticism aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. He added that in the last few days the criticism from the Sena had hit a new low. However, both Thackeray and Raut flatly denied having made any personal remarks on the two BJP leaders.
Fadnavis said that in the last five years and in the last fortnight the BJP had made its displeasure known to the Sena leadership, to which the Sena leadership had reasoned that the criticism was on government policies and not against any individuals. To which Thackeray countered that it pained him to see him being painted as a liar especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently twice called him his younger brother. He also pointed out that during the recent Lok Sabha elections he had gone to Ahmedabad to accompany Shah and for Modi in Varanasi when they were filing their nomination papers.
While the acting chief minister argued that the doors of talks for the Mahayuti were not closed and said that neither would he declare that the Sena-BJP alliance was over. Replying to queries over refusal of Shah to mediate, Fadnavis clarified that the party president can only come if the talks have reached certain point, but what was the point of him coming if they (Sena) had stopped all talks. The acting chief minister blamed the Sena 100 percent for failure in talks stating that the BJP could not accept Sena criticizing its allies
Without naming Sena leader Sanjay Raut, Fadnavis remarked that people can get media space by making statements, but they should realize that governments are not formed by mere statements. Refuting Fadnavis claims, Thackeray dragged the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wanting to know what kind of Hindutva was this of its BJP which was based on lies.
Hitting out at senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and taking pot-shots at his ministry’s Ganga river clean-up project, the Sena president sarcastically remarked that while cleaning up the Ganges river their hearts also have got polluted and in the end the river Ganga never got cleaned up.
His reply came as earlier in the day, Gadkari too maintained that Shah had told him that no such assurance of sharing the chief ministers post was made to Thackeray. The Union Transport Minister claimed that between Shah and Thackeray it was decided to abide by late Sena chiefs formula that whoever got the maximum number of seats would stake claim to the chief ministers post. Arguing that the Sena-BJP alliance was based on Hindutva ideology, Gadkari further remarked that if the Sena-NCP came together then it will be an unnatural alliance and that such alliances do not last long.
Replying to Fadnavis claim that he enjoyed good ties with him, Thackeray remarked what has gone wrong with Fadnavis and BJP and why they cannot keep the promise they had made. The Sena president while stating that he was open for dialogue, he added that however his conscience did not permit him to talk to the person who calls late Sena chiefs son a liar.
Earlier, speaking to newspersons outside the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Raut remarked that in many state’s the BJP shared power with those leaders who had criticized Modi and the BJP. Later Thackeray tried to play a clip of Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) chief and Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala arguing that the Sena had not criticized Modi and Shah the way Chautala did.
