Amidst rising attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government over the Sachin Vaze episode and its demand for the imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra, senior ministers from Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, on Tuesday, met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to decide a strategy to effectively counter the opposition’s attack and improve coordination amongst the three parties. After the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar clarified that there is no threat to the MVA government and he does not see that Vaze’s arrest will impact its functioning.
Shiv Sena Minister Eknath Shinde also said that the state government is stable and functioning well. Today’s meeting took place days after Vaze’s arrest and BJP has been targeting the government on this issue.
Pawar said that the three parties are working as per the common minimum programme and its implementation was also discussed at today’s meeting. “We are working together. There are no differences among us,” he added.
“The MVA government is trying to ensure that law and order in the state is good. There are no differences amongst the ruling partners. The state government has not interfered in the Sachin Vaze case. An impartial inquiry is currently underway. No one will be shielded,” he noted. “Even if someone belongs to any political party, we will investigate them as is being done by ATS,” he viewed. Pawar said, at today’s meeting, the CM said that the state government will investigate all those involved and this has been accepted by all the parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
About the annual budget, he said efforts were made to provide funds to almost all the sections despite the financial crunch. “The government has not meted out injustice to any region during fund allocation,” he viewed.
On the media reports about the removal of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh from his post, Pawar said, “It is the job of the party to decide who to keep in the cabinet and who to remove.”
Pawar’s statement came a day after NCP has categorically said that the party will not seek Deshmukh’s resignation, nor he will be removed from his post. State NCP chief Jayant Patil remarked that Deshmukh has been doing a fine job.
