'Give governance instead of threats': Fadnavis to Thackeray

Former Maharashtra CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said that instead of providing the state some degree of governance through the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), CM Uddhav Thackeray has been threatening the Opposition unlike any of his predecessors in the history of Maharashtra. He said the MVA has abused constitutional power to silence the dissenters, adding that the breakdown of constitutional mechanism qualified for imposing the President's Rule. However, he clarified that the BJP would not demand the Centre's intervention to end the MVA rule.

Fadnavis was responding to Thackeray's statement that the Shiv Sena could also attack the wives or children of the BJP leaders who were maligning his family by making false accusations. Fadnavis said, "We don't do it. In fact, I'm the biggest victim of such individual attacks on my family. Senior Sena leaders have said so many things against my wife that shouldn't be said against any woman. However, one shouldn't complain about political attacks if a particular family member is in politics," he added.

On a day the MVA celebrates its first anniversary, Fadnavis said the government has failed miserably in the past one year. "The CM says he will run the government for five years, but I ask him to provide some governance because threatening the Opposition and dissenters won't do any good to the state," he said.

Adding that the government has abused power in the Arnab Goswami and Kangana Ranaut cases, he said, "The judgments in the two cases prove that there is a breakdown of the constitutional machinery." Fadnavis said the two court cases summed up the Thackeray government's performance in the first year. He further asked whether the government would brand the Supreme Court and high court as anti-Maharashtra for giving such judgements. Fadnavis demanded a vision for the future, a plan for taking Maharashtra forward. "The CM spoke nothing about important issues on the first anniversary, but made statements that suited street brawls. He takes credit for fighting COVID-19, but forgets that Maharashtra has the maximum deaths in the country," he said.

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