Playing down differences between allies of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Shiv Sena has attacked the leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis for claiming that the row over the transfer of senior police officials in Mumbai had exposed differences in the coalition.
“If governments collapse because of differences in few transfers and promotions, it must be said that the politics in this country is standing on a weak ground,” said an editorial on Wednesday in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana. The newspaper has chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor.
Attacking Fadnavis for his statement that the BJP would not topple the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, which would fall under the weight of its contradictions, the editorial said this revealed his “confused” state of mind.
“The Chinese troops withdrew from the Galvan valley, but Fadnavis and his cohorts are unwilling to step back from their attempts to topple the government,” Sena said. It added that Congress leader and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had both denied any differences of opinion, and said the regime would last its full five-year term.
“What seems to be confusion or contradictions to the eyes of the opposition, may be a sign of liveliness in the government,” the editorial claimed.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis said he was giving his “best wishes” to the state government to complete its full term. Accusing Saamna of living out contradictions in its stance about Sharad Pawar and the Governor, Fadnavis charged that the newspaper had come a long way from the days of party supremo Bal Thackeray.
“We are not in a hurry to topple the government… our focus is on tackling Corona,” he added.
