Ahead Of Big Verdict Today, Eknath Shinde Justifies Meeting Maharashtra Speaker
NDTV
The Maharashtra chief minister said the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena is making baseless allegations because it is restless.
Under attack from the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena over the meeting between him and Speaker Rahul Narwekar ahead of the latter's verdict on the disqualification of MLAs on Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said the opposition is making baseless allegations because they are worried the order is going to go against them.
Referring to a meeting between Mr Narwekar and Mr Shinde at the chief minister's residence over the weekend, Uddhav Thackeray had said that it was akin to a "judge meeting a criminal" ahead of a verdict. Pointing out that this was especially inappropriate since the chief minister is one of the MLAs whose disqualification has been sought, his party has also approached the Supreme Court.
Reacting to these comments, Mr Shinde said in Hindi, "They are restless. They are making baseless allegations because they can see their impending defeat. If a verdict goes in their favour, they have good things to say. If there was some sort of match-fixing, the Assembly Speaker would have come at night. He visited me during the day, in his official vehicle. It was an official meeting."
