Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday revealed that he was a witness to the ongoing planning of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to arrest then-leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and BJP leader Girish Mahajan.
Shinde made the sensational claim while speaking to reporters in Mumbai on the eve of the Maharashtra Assembly's Budget session.
"I was a witness to the ongoing planning of the MVA government to arrest then leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis and Girish Mahajan.
"That government had even planned to invoke the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act 1999 against Mahajan. I cannot repeat what I had said that time to stop them," Shinde said.
'I toppled the govt and made MVA sit at home'
"Instead of changing the decision, I later toppled the whole government and made them (MVA) sit at home. The strategy was to put the Bharatiya Janata Party on the backfoot (through the arrests)," Mr Shinde claimed.
When asked why his government was not taking action against those involved in this conspiracy, the Chief Minister said, "Dethroning is enough for them. I am well aware of who was indulging in such practices. If required, we will initiate an inquiry into the matter.”
Fadnavis had made the claim about a plan to arrest him by the Uddhav Thackeray government during a media interaction in January this year. (With PTI inputs)
