Maha political upheaval 'scripted by BJP', says Congress

Mumbai, July 4

The Congress' Maharashtra unit on Tuesday accused the BJP at the Centre of scripting the recent political upheaval witnessed in the state to divert public attention for burning issues like inflation, unemployment, Manipur crises and others.

State Congress chief Nana Patole alleged that the political drama in the state is going on as per the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“Some people were threatened with the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation cases. All this was due to the fear of going to jail if they didn’t listen to the BJP. It's an unfortunate state of affairs and the people of the state have strongly resented the murky goings-on,” he said.

On the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, the Congress chief said that the party which has the highest number of MLAs will be entitled to the post.

Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partner Nationalist Congress Party has already staked claim to the post and nominated its National General Secretary Dr. Jitendra Awhad.

The two factions of the NCP are scheduled to hold their separate meetings in Mumbai on Wednesday and the Congress said they will await the outcome and take a decision after consulting Shiv Sena-UBT President and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on the issue.

A senior leader from Pune, declining to be quoted, said that the Congress doesn’t need to stake claim to the Leader of Opposition post as it will come on merits owing to its numerical strength in the house after the break-downs of the Sena-UBT and the NCP.

A delegation of top state Congress leaders called on Sharad Pawar this afternoon and discussed the current state political scenario with him. The Congress reiterated its full support to the NCP leader and said that they will unitedly fight all upcoming elections under the MVA banner.