Congress slams BJP: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday (July 7) said that the people of the state have realised they have committed a ‘grave mistake’ by electing the BJP in the last Assembly polls and are keen on ‘rectifying’ it in the next year’s elections.
“People in Maharashtra are in no mood to choose the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as they are fed up with the manner in which the party uses threats and resorts to all kinds of tactics to retain power. They made a grave mistake and want to rectify it in the coming elections,” Patole said at a party event in Thane.
Referring to the recent split in ally NCP, he accused the BJP of ‘kidnapping’ the legislators of the Opposition parties.
“While the state is reeling under various problems, the BJP is indulging in the game of “kidnapping” the legislators of opposition parties and the recent episode involving the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is one example,” he said.
“The BJP used to make fun of MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) and see what they are doing now,” he said.
MVA was an alliance of three parties - Congress, undivided NCP and Shiv Sena - that ruled the state before Eknath Shinde led a rebellion to oust Uddhav Thackeray from power in 2022.
Patole claims friction in ruling coalition
Patole claimed there is already a lot of friction among the three constituents of the ruling coalition – BJP, Shinde-led Sena and Ajit Pawar faction of NCP – and the discord will worsen in the days to come.
When asked about the Leade of Opposition post in the Maharashtra Assembly, which was previously held by Ajit Pawar before he jumped ship to join the Shinde-Fadnavis government, Patole said that a member of the opposition party with most number of legislators gets the post.
“The Congress has become stronger after Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, his foot march from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, and the BJP is worried about it,” he said.
The state Congress chief also accused the BJP of ‘stealing’ the elected representatives and indulging in threats using central agencies like the ED and CBI.
“Even the results of elections held recently show that the BJP is losing some grounds and the Congress gaining,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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