Published: February 18, 2020 3:14:54 am
Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Mumbai, Patil said, “Till the 2019 Assembly election, the Shiv Sena was an alliance partner of the BJP. However, it unethically switched sides after the results to join hands with Congress and NCP.”
Alleging internal conflict in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, reappointed state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said in case the government fell, the BJP will not enter into any alliance with the Shiv Sena and will prefer mid-term elections.
The three parties in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government — Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress — are not in sync over the implementation of National Population Register (NPR) and a probe by NIA into Elgaar Parishad case.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has agreed to implement the NPR while Congress and NCP are opposed to it. The chief minister has also agreed to an NIA probe into Elgaar Parishad case, which NCP had opposed.
Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Mumbai, Patil said, “Till the 2019 Assembly election, the Shiv Sena was an alliance partner of the BJP. However, it unethically switched sides after the results to join hands with Congress and NCP.”
He added that in the entire political history of the state in the last seven decades, this was the first instance that a political party in alliance with another party before the elections had changed sides to form the government with new partners.
Patil, however, justified the BJP’s decision to form a pre-poll pact with the Sena for the Assembly polls. “The Shiv Sena won 54 seats because of the alliance with the BJP. In the absence of a pre-poll alliance, the Sena would not have won 54 seats. The BJP helped the party enhance its tally. At the same time, even the BJP would not have won so many seats without an alliance,” he said.
He asserted that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will fall due to internal contradictions. “There is no question of the BJP bringing down the Congress-NCP-Sena government. It will fall on its own. But the BJP is not interested in forming the government with its previous ally. The BJP will prepare for mid-term polls, which will be evident in such a situation,” Patil said.
The BJP has decided to launch a day’s protest against the state government outside 400 tehsil offices across the state on February 25.
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