Sharad Pawar says BJP will not rule Maharashtra, party taunts him
The Hindu
Malik remains Minister but his duties are assigned to others in the Cabinet
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s exhortation in a meeting with young MLAs from the three parties in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would never come to power in Maharashtra appears to have irked the saffron party, which took to social media to question the veteran leader’s ability to winning elections.
On Thursday, seven young MLAs of the MVA met Mr. Pawar. Results from the recently concluded polls in five States were among the subjects discussed. Mr. Pawar told them that the BJP would not be able to form a government in Maharashtra, and “We [the MVA] will not let that happen.”
The Maharashtra unit of the BJP shot back that people stood supreme in a democracy and decided who got elected. The BJP’s official Maharashtra handle tweeted: “Other regional parties formed governments in two states within 10 years but you cannot cross three and half districts. Try to make a chief minister of your party which you couldn’t do in 55 years.”
Meanwhile Union Minister and BJP leader Raosaheb Danve claimed that 25 MVA MLAs had been in contact with the BJP before the Budget session of the Assembly and once the elections neared, they would join the saffron party.
Mr. Danve continued his attack on the MVA government over the continuation of Nawab Malik, presently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged case of money laundering connected to gangster Dawood Ibrahim, as a State Cabinet Minister.
The MVA, which has refused to accept his resignation, has decided to handover the responsibility of the departments under Mr. Malik to other Ministers. Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad will take over the functioning of the Minority Affairs Department while Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope will look after the Skills Development Department. Dhananjay Munde will be the Guardian Minister of Parbhani district instead of Mr. Malik.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil said that the party was not satisfied with the action taken and demand Mr. Malik’s ouster.
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