Mumbai: The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi partners Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, on Monday, countered state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrakant Patil's statement that there will be mid-term assembly election in Maharashtra. NCP state president and Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil claimed that Patil made the mid-term poll forecast out of frustration, while state Congress chief and Minister of Revenue Balasaheb Thorat said Patil was day dreaming. Both leaders in separate statements strongly took on Patil for his statement and said that the MVA government will complete the five-year tenure.
Patil, who returned from Delhi after participating in BJP's campaign, today said the MVA government will fall due to differences among alliance partners. ''Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are criticising each other on a number of issues, including the allocation of non-lucrative portfolios or a bungalow of their choice. BJP is not waiting for the government to fall. Instead, MVA government will fall under its own weight,'' he added.
Minutes after Patil's remarks, the NCP minister said that the government was functioning quite smoothly. ''Patil and the BJP are questioning the MVA's survival every now and then. It is due to frustration. The government will complete full term,'' he noted. He further ruled out the possibility of a mid-term poll.
Echoing similar sentiments, NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, told FPJ, ''Let BJP continue to make statements on the government's survival. In my opinion, the MVA government will complete its five-year term.'' He hinted that it will be difficult for BJP to engineer split in the alliance partners.
Congress minister Thorat attacked Patil saying that he was day dreaming. His statement coincided with CM Uddhav Thackeray's interview in Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Saamna. Thackeray had categorically said that the MVA government was functioning well and he did not see any problem in its survival and completion of five years in office. Thackeray also said that the future of MVA government was “good”.
